Burke, Kenneth Duva, 1897-1993, American critic, b. Pittsburgh, Pa. He was music critic for The Dial (1927-29) and The Nation (1934-36). A profound thinker whose writings have influenced other critics, Burke saw literature as "symbolic action"—man must view everything through a haze of symbols (language). Among his works are Counter-Statement (1931); Attitudes Towards History (1937); A Grammar of Motives (1945); Collected Poems (1968); and The Complete White Oxen (1968), a collection of short fiction.