How did Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve’s literary portraits differ from earlier forms of criticism?

Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve revolutionized literary criticism by moving away from older traditions that relied on rigid, abstract standards of taste. Instead, he introduced a more flexible and historical approach that prioritized the sympathetic reconstruction of an author’s values and context.1

His method, often described as creating "likenesses of great men" (imagier des grands hommes), differed from earlier forms by treating the writer "in the round". To achieve this, he conducted extensive research into an author’s life, including their:12
* Character and education13
* Family background and friendships13
* Physical appearance and religion13
* Personal love affairs13

By integrating this biographical data, Sainte-Beuve aimed to allow authors to "explain themselves" to contemporary readers. While this practice became a standard of historical criticism, it also drew criticism from contemporaries who argued he focused too heavily on biographical explanations rather than the literary works themselves. Ultimately, his work helped establish French literary criticism as an independent field, free from the partisan passions and personal prejudices that had previously influenced it.13