In a journal entry published online in late April, Roger Ebert claimed that we are currently enjoying a “golden age of movie critics.”

Given that arts critics of all kinds are more or less continually being fired or reassigned to the Miley Cyrus beat, this essay seemed to buck the conventional wisdom (not that Ebert has ever been afraid to do that).

But Ebert’s point was that many of the people who are practicing film criticism most passionately these days are people who are doing it on the Web with no hope of remuneration. They are doing it for the love of it and are doing it well.

In this essay, Ebert counseled aspiring movie critics to become renaissance men and women – students of the world, not just students of film.

It has been almost five years since Ebert began a cancer treatment odyssey that would eventually rob him of his ability to speak and eat. Yet Ebert’s work is more vital and influential than ever.

And thanks in part to his popular and wide-ranging online journal, Ebert has slipped the bonds of movie criticism and is now eagerly read on a wide range of topics.

Ebert is writing for the love of it these days and doing it well.

I asked Ebert in an e-mail interview whether he ever thought he would one day become such a beloved generalist.

“I don’t know about ‘beloved,’ ” he writes, “but a generalist, yes. I’ve always admired writers who didn’t specialize. My heroes include George Orwell and Edmund Wilson.”

The way the journal began was skillfully described in a profile of Ebert that ran in Esquire a year ago.

“At first, it’s just a vessel for him to apologize to his fans for not being downstate,” wrote Chris Jones. “The original entries are short updates about his life and health and a few of his heart’s wishes. Postcards and pebbles… But slowly the journal picks up steam, as Ebert’s strength and confidence and audience grow. ‘You are the readers I have dreamed of,’ he writes. He is emboldened. He begins to write about more than movies; in fact, it sometimes seems as though he’d rather write about anything other than movies… more than five hundred thousand words of inner monologue have poured out of him, five hundred thousand words that probably wouldn’t exist had he kept his other voice.”

Ebert writes that his battle with cancer brought him closer to his readers than he had ever thought possible and now the relationship is forever changed.

“I focus on communicating directly with readers. I always did, but now with feedback I have more of a sense of dialogue,” Ebert writes.

Unlike a lot of big-time columnists or popular online contributors, Ebert personally vets all the comments submitted to his site (he does this “so my blog hasn’t been overrun by spam and stupidity”).

And Ebert frequently comments on the comments, which can lead to intensely personal exchanges between Ebert and temporary strangers.

“The Internet allows people to write safely from within their own zones of privacy. I’ve been astonished by some of the comments I’ve received. Truthful and brave,” he writes.

Ebert’s courage and perseverance through and beyond his cancer fight have turned many people who may not have been fans of his movie reviews into fans of the man.

Ebert tends to defer any praise to his wife, Chaz.

Asked what he learned about Chaz during the ordeal, Ebert replies, “Her unstoppable determination. Her bravery. Her constancy.”

Ebert writes that his cancer battle “puts things in perspective.”

“This may sound like a cliché (in fact, it is a cliché), but it teaches you to be grateful for every day.”

Ebert has recently published a book of his rice cooker recipes, and he is reportedly working on a memoir. But Ebert has set aside his book projects for the moment so he can concentrate his energies on his new televised review program, “Ebert Presents at the Movies.”

“I’m focusing on the TV show, which is getting nice ratings and has been picked up by no less than 326 public TV stations,” he writes.

Newspapermen and -women who read his journal tend to cherish most the stories about Chicago journalism in the ’60s and ’70s, and some of us wouldn’t mind a compendium of these sometimes-salty, always-savory tales.

Ebert, who worked with The Journal Gazette’s editor-in-chief Craig Klugman at the Sun-Times, replies, “Your own editor can tell you some of them that can’t be printed.”