There has been much cross-fertilization between cultural theory and literary theory. Functions of Criticism Despite the complaints of writers and readers against faultfinding, criticism is an inevitable and indispensable activity. People will always talk and write about books and distinguish between good and bad ones. Theater critics and book reviewers sift through books and plays, now produced in staggering numbers. Only a small fraction of the books published in English are reviewed, and even fewer survive more than a few years.
Critics thus mold and determine taste, shaping and establishing writers' reputations.
Critics also assess the works of the more remote past, constantly reinterpreting and reassessing the tradition of literature. Thus criticism either becomes the guardian of tradition or is used to revalue writers or trends from new perspectives. In this way critics define and redefine the classics. Most commonly, however, critics serve the present concern, preparing the way for new trends or writers. Criticism thus plays a large part in literary history.