"The essay "What is a Humanistic Critique?" is the opening speech of Abrams at the symposium titled The Emperor Redressed: Critiquing Critical Theory, which took place in 1992 at the University of Alabama. Distinguished literary critics, philosophers, and scholars such as John Searle, Ihab Hassan, David Lehman, Richard Levin, and others participated in the symposium. The theme (and obvious target) of the symposium was the "thorough examination" of poststructuralist, radical theories, among which deconstruction holds a prominent position. The tone of many presentations was combative, ironic, or sarcastic. However, Abrams, always instructive and methodical, after reminding that "critique does not mean warfare," undertakes to analyze the basic positions of poststructuralist theories, ideas, and practices, and to demonstrate both their internal contradictions and their consequences. He will examine certain critical theories "from within," will see "which elements and factors have made them appear not only reliable but also persuasive to intelligent people," and will show "what interesting conceptions exist in these theories, which those of us who have a different stance as critics would do well to pay attention to." He will also show why "contemporary theories, when applied to literary criticism," are "inadequate for the literary texts they undertake to interpret and often distorting in the ways of reading they use and propose." ... A large part of the essay covers the description of the anti-humanism of structuralist and poststructuralist theories (Claude Levi-Strauss, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Paul de Man), the questioning of fundamental concepts and references of traditional thought and criticism, such as "man," "human," "the subject," "subjectivity," "the person," "the self." For these theorists, people "the author, the reader" do not exist as subjects, they are "like the literary work" "functions" or "results" of language."

(excerpt from the Translator's Epilogue)