“When we move from word to referent, we think we are leaping from crag to crag, across and abyss below. If we slip, we have had it. But this description is itself dependent upon a metaphor, as though meaning has to get increasingly smudgy every time we make a xerox copy of it. But suppose …
What to Read First
“Wodehouse was merciless to pretentiousness, and aspiring writers are the most pretentious fellows on the planet. So there’s that spiritual benefit” (Writers to Read, p. 50).
Not a Quantitative Thing
“True, there is an occasional stray hell or damn, and this is unfortunate, because many modern Christians do all their worldview analysis through the simple process of counting them” (Writers to Read, p. 48).
Interested and Interesting
“First-rate writers are more interested in what they are writing about than in the fact that they are writing about it. That is why they are interesting” (Writers to Read, p. 39).
Not From Scratch
“Those who want to be creative originals from scratch seldom are, and those who slavishly follow the recipe have a different problem, just as debilitating. Those who look carefully at the masters to learn and imitate soon find their own distinctive voice with their own contributions” (Writers to Read, p. 38).
Secure or Less Insecure
“The critic need not be secure in order to successfully market his wares. He just has to be less insecure than the artists he is criticizing, which, given the temperament of most cape and beret artists post-Rousseau, is not that hard” (Writers to Read, p. 37).
Critical Authority
“What is the authority of the critic, exactly? Where does it come from? A certain measure of it has to be the capacity to generate fear, which is probably why successful critics generally know how to slash as they write” (Writers to Read, p. 33).
The Labyrinth of Brainy Parts
“Serious thought takes the world as it actually is. This is quite different from taking it as ‘serious’ thinkers do, locked up as they are in the back recesses of their brainy parts” (Writers to Read, p. 28).
Beyond the Times
“The Christian faith is permanently sane and is therefore always a bit out of fashion. Fads and fashions are mild insanities, Chesterton taught, and that is why the church always seems behind the times. It is actually beyond the times” (Writers to Read, p. 27).
The Last Piece of Pie
“You give the last piece of pie to God, who doesn’t eat pie, by giving it to your neighbor, who does” (Writers to Read, p. 26).