End of Literary Criticism

Very soon after the mass production of literature-writing machines began and started working with high efficiency, it was noticed that with every passing day critics were disappearing. The phenomenon had an immediate and easily perceptible cause: the trade of the literary critic had become practically impossible. No one was capable of reading even a small number of all the books that were being brought out. According to certain approximate estimates (the history of this moment was traced back later and its concrete details have remained obscure, for they are still based on indirect sources), a machine managed to compose a piece of poetry in less than two minutes. A novel of less than 300 pages took 18 minutes, while the time required fo...