University of Virginia Library

Teacher Also

Taylor has throughout his
mature life combined his writing
career with teaching. Before joining
the English Department at Virginia
he taught at Chicago, Harvard,
Indiana, Ohio State, and, with
Jarrell, at University of North
Carolina at Greensboro.

When asked if he gives attention
to critics Taylor replied that he
can't remember when he has ever
learned from them. He feels that a
writer learns only from analyzing
his own work and from other
writers. Replying to a recent
criticism of his work which branded
it as "old-style, southern-fried realism"
which was today out of date
Taylor replied that critics who
think that a particular genre of
literature can ever be exhausted are
"politicos who think in political
terms and interpret literature from
a sociological standpoint." It is
interesting to note that this particular
criticism was made in the
politically-oriented "The New Republic."