Can someone define what a literary critic is?

Question

This is little stupid but I want to make sure I'm not going to mess up an essay over something small.
Can a critic constitute a biographer? I have to use over a certain amount of critics and the guidelines say I can rely on biographies, so I assume that critics can be biographers, but I just want to double-check.

Answer 1

Noun 1. literary criticism - a written evaluation of a work of literature
criticism
piece of writing, written material, writing - the work of a writer; anything expressed in letters of the alphabet (especially when considered from the point of view of style and effect); "the writing in her novels is excellent"; "that editorial was a fine piece of writing"
explication de texte - a method of literary criticism that analyzes details of a text in order to reveal its structure and meaning
textual criticism - comparison of a particular text with related materials in order to establish authenticity
new criticism - literary criticism based on close analysis of the text
analysis - a form of literary criticism in which the structure of a piece of writing is analyzed
critical review, critique, review article, review - an essay or article that gives a critical evaluation (as of a book or play)
2. literary criticism - the informed analysis and evaluation of literature
lit crit
literary study - the humanistic study of literature

In its truest sense, the literary critic gives a critical evaluation of the literary work, not the life of the person in the biography. However, if your teacher has said you can use biographies, then I would probably use it and make note of the reference.

Answer 2

simply, a literary critic is someone who cannot make a living at writing, so they are trying the next best thing.
as for your requirements, you seem to be bordering on philosophy or reasoning skills....although a critic may be a biographer, it doesn't follow that a biographer is necessarily a critic.
a biographer whose slant is biased in some fashion could be critiquing the life...or maybe not.
it looks like you are worrying for nothing here.