The End of Scrutiny
The, premature decease of the Cambridge. review, Scrutiny, removes the most candid friend and critic of English literature. Founded in 1932, Scrutiny has consistently maintained the high standards of integrity set by its editor, Dr. F. R. Leavis, whose insistence on the necessity of a genuinely serious approach to the problems facing modern writers has earned him more respect than popularity. Ironically enough, Scrutiny was paying its way, and it is lack of support in the univer- sities themselves that has forced it to cease publication. That it will be missed is certain. The fact that in the United States several reviews of the same kind (though not so good) manage to keep going should make us think. Our cultural supremacy is a dogma in certain intellectual circles, but hardly stands the test of brute reality. The sad fact is that all our government machinery for encouraging culture was unable to keep our best critical review alive.
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