Critic!

First broadcast 19980412. First repeated 19980730.

What is the role of the literary critic? Two current critics have new books on two giants from the past. Tom Paulin and Ian Hamilton discuss William Hazlitt and Matthew Arnold. With contributions from Christopher Ricks and Geoffrey Hill. `Critic!' is the final insult in a long slanging match at the heart of Samuel Beckett's `Waiting for Godot'. Artists have long been sceptical of critical judgement and hostile to the critical profession, yet the greatest critics have been artists themselves.