[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

A "critic" is a man who creates nothing and thereby feels qualified to judge the work of creative men. There IS logic in this; he is unbiased, he hates all creative people equally.

Lazarus Long

[Rembrandt_fan]

Heinlein was just peeved because he felt his literary merit was unrecognized by the mainstream critics of his day. Insofar as critics are concerned, no one can say the great art critic, John Ruskin, for example, was an uncreative man. His critical essays constitute some of the finest, most perceptive writing in the English language. And it was Ruskin, too, who recognized the painter J.W.W. Turner's greatness, and told the world about it.

Chambers was on solid intellectual ground in his 'Atlas Shrugged' review. Attempting to diminish all critics and criticism is a broadside hitting nothing. There are bad critics, certainly--art critic Robert Hughes comes immediately to mind--but if one puts work out there and expects it to be taken seriously, then expect serious people to look at it.