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Quotable:
I
write because I don't know what I think until I read what
I say.
Flannery O'Connor 1925 - 1964
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What is the function of a critic?
So far as I am concerned, s/he can do me one or more of the
following services:
-
Introduce
me to authors or works of which I was hitherto unaware.
-
Convince
me that I have undervalued an author or a work because I had
not read them carefully enough.
-
Show
me relations between works of different ages and cultures
which I could never have seen for myself because I do not
know enough and never shall.
-
Give
a "reading" of a work which increases my
understanding of it.
-
Throw
light upon the process of artistic "Making."
-
Throw
light upon the relation of art to life, science, economics,
ethics, religion, etc.
W.
H. Auden, The Dyer's Hand
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