Jane Austen is at the end of the line that begins with Samuel Richardson, which takes wonder and magic out of the novel, treats not the past but the present.

Even though the Kenyon Review was a journal often associated with New Criticism Fiedler questioned the principles of New Criticism in his writing. Fiedler's argument includes descriptions of Montanans that were thought to be offensive to the actual residents of his community. After performing various translation-oriented duties Fiedler was discharged in 1945.

Leslie Aaron Fiedler (March 8 1917 – January 29 2003) was an American literary critic known for his interest in mythography and his championing of genre fiction. He was in practical terms one of the early postmodernist critics working across literature in general from around 1970.