Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature

Literature

Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...

. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory

Literary theory

Literary theory in a strict sense is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for analyzing literature. However, literary scholarship since the 19th century often includes—in addition to, or even instead of literary theory in the strict sense—considerations of...

, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals. Though the two activities are closely related, literary critic

Critic

A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...

s are not always, and have not always been, theorists.

Whether or not literary criticism should be considered a separate field of inquiry from literary theory

Literary theory

Literary theory in a strict sense is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for analyzing literature. However, literary scholarship since the 19th century often includes—in addition to, or even instead of literary theory in the strict sense—considerations of...

, or conversely from book reviewing, is a matter of some controversy.