“ Reading a novel after reading semiotic theory was like jogging empty-handed after jogging with hand weights. What exquisite guilt she felt, wickedly enjoying narrative! Madeleine felt safe with a nine… Jeffrey Eugenides
“ To the jaded eye, all vampires seem alike, but they are wonderful in their versatility. Some come to life in moonlight, others are killed by the sun, some pierce with their eyes, others with fangs, so… Nina Auerbach
“ The truth is not that we need the critics in order to enjoy the authors, but that we need the authors in order to enjoy the critics. C.S. Lewis
“ When the critic has said everything in his power about a literary text, he has still said nothing; for the very existence of literature implies that it cannot be replaced by non-literature Tzvetan Todorov
“ A clever schoolboy's reaction to his reading is most naturally expressed by parody or imitation. C.S. Lewis
“ The ambition of much of today's literary theory seems to be to find ways to read literature without imagination. Charles Simic
“ Some have speculated that the way [Albert] Camus died made his theories on absurdity a self-fulfilling prophecy. Others would say it was the triumphant meaningful way he lived that allowed him to rise… Aberjhani
“ Punctuation was, it is sad to say, invented a very long time ago. Even more frustrating, it has remained with us ever since. Anne Elizabeth Moore
“ There is, in fact, no need to drag politics into literary theory: as with South African sport, it has been there from the beginning. I mean by the political no more than the way we organize our social… Terry Eagleton
“ Characters should be interchangeable as between one book and another. The entire corpus of existing literature should be regarded as a limbo from which discerning authors could draw their characters a… Flann O'Brien
