“I beg my reader to consider the "evidence" I provide for my case and perhaps feel persuaded as a result. Beyond that I make no claim.” FeelsResultsCasesReaderEvidenceClaims Author:Paul Fry
“I make a distinction between theory and methodology, the latter being the practical deployment of a premise. Theory on the contrary may well be applied, hence becomes methodology without a hitch, but isn't necessarily practical at all.” WellsMayTheoryContraryPracticalsDistinctionLatterPremisesMethodologyDeployment Author:Paul Fry
“I don't think theory adds to criticism. (Methodology does, for better or worse.) Theory's function is to make criticism self-conscious, maybe even a little sheepish, about its ex cathedra pronouncements.” ThinkingLittlesDoeSelfTheoryConsciousCriticismFunctionAddExesSelf ConsciousMethodology Author:Paul Fry
“Criticism is concerned with evaluation. There may be evaluative principles implicit in this or that form of theory, but theory in and of itself is not prescriptive.” MayFormPrinciplesTheoryConcernedCriticismEvaluationImplicit Author:Paul Fry
“I do identify the escape hatch through which Foucault eludes the charge that he himself is an author/authority, hence a tyrant. He establishes the category of "founder of discursivity" for the authors he likes. Slippery, perhaps, but you can see what he means.” MeanAuthorityLikesCategoriesTyrantsFoundersSlipperyElude Author:Paul Fry
“Authors we are in danger of accepting as gospel, whereas founders of discursivity provide permeable ideas that we can elaborate upon in a tradition of constructive dialogue.” IdeasAcceptingDangerTraditionDialogueFoundersConstructive Author:Paul Fry
“The rhetoric of theory is always in a bind. It pronounces ideas and denounces failures to accept or grasp them while insisting that there are no grounds either for accepting or grasping ideas.” IdeasAcceptingTheoryRhetoricGraspingInsisting Author:Paul Fry
“I'm a fan or naysayer like everyone else, not an authority of any kind.” KindFansAuthorityNaysayers Author:Paul Fry
“The effect of reading literary non-fiction that matters most to me is when the coin drops, and this happens in the company of the great, mercuric, encyclopedic minds: Empson, Kenneth Burke, Northrop Frye.” MindMatterHappensReadingFictionCompanyEffectsCoinsNon FictionKenneth Author:Paul Fry
“I think it's always important to put your own spin and bring your essence to whatever character you play.” ThinkingImportantPlayCharacterEssence Author:Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer
