Is “The Death Of The Critic” A Tired Trope That Needs Retiring?

“What if the critic doesn’t need more audacity, or more ruthlessness; what if there isn’t one “tone of the time” waiting for their elucidation – indeed, what if nothing but mass popularity is missing? Relinquish the assumption that the mainstream is the critic’s rightful inheritance, and the anxiety might start falling away.” – Times Literary Supplement