Learning why one great book is just like every other great book is the key to understanding literature

Learning why one great book is just like every other great book is the key to understanding literature

To provoke dreams of terror in the slumber of prosperity has become the moral duty of literature.

To provoke dreams of terror in the slumber of prosperity has become the moral duty of literature.

Perish those who said our good things before we did.

Perish those who said our good things before we did.

Literature becomes the living memory of a nation.

Literature becomes the living memory of a nation.

Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and read more

Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.

There is no human reason why a child should not admire and emulate his teacher's ability to do sums, rather read more

There is no human reason why a child should not admire and emulate his teacher's ability to do sums, rather than the village bum's ability to whittle sticks and smoke cigarettes. The reason why the child does not is plain enough -- the bum has put himself on an equality with him and the teacher has not.

Woe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn.

Woe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn.

They castrate the books of other men in order that with the fat of their works they may lard their read more

They castrate the books of other men in order that with the fat of their works they may lard their own lean volumes.

A sequel is an admission that you've been reduced to imitating yourself.

A sequel is an admission that you've been reduced to imitating yourself.