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Lionel Trilling Quotes

Literary critic

Lionel Trilling was an influential American literary critic and writer, born on July 4, 1905, and died on November 5, 1975. He was a significant figure in 20th-century American literary criticism, known for his profound thought and sharp insights.

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Famous Lionel Trilling Quotes

“Reasons for not keeping a notebook: 1) the ambiguity of the reader--it is never quite oneself. 2) I usually hate the sight of my handwriting--it lives too much and I dislike its life--I mean by "lives," of course, betrays too much!”

Life Mean Reason Hate Courses Too Much Reader Sight Oneself Dislike Betray Never Quit Diaries Ambiguity Notebook Handwriting

Author:Lionel Trilling

“Any historian of the literature of the modern age will take virtually for granted the adversary intention, the actually subversive intention, that characterizes modern writing - he will perceive its clear purpose of detaching the reader from the habits of thought and feeling that the larger culture imposes, of giving him a ground and a vantage point from which to judge and condemn, and perhaps revise, the culture that produces him.”

Source: The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent: Selected Essays

“Reasons for not keeping a notebook: 1) the ambiguity of the reader”

Reason Reader Journalism Ambiguity Notebook

Author:Lionel Trilling

About the Author

Born: July 4, 1905
Died: November 5, 1975
Known for: Literary critic
Quotes: 51

Books & Sources

The Liberal ImaginationRelated source material

The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent: Selected EssaysRelated source material

Sincerity and AuthenticityRelated source material

Matthew ArnoldRelated source material

Freud and the Crisis of Our Culture. (2. Print.)Related source material

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