
Source: Essai de semantique, 1897, p. 9 ; as cited in: Schaff (1962:3).
Source: The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, 1912, p. 10
Source: Essai de semantique, 1897, p. 9 ; as cited in: Schaff (1962:3).
"Koheleth - the Man and his World" (1955), preface, p. vii
“That book is good in vain, which the reader throws away.”
The Life of Dryden
Lives of the English Poets (1779–81)
Context: It is not by comparing line with line, that the merit of great works is to be estimated, but by their general effects and ultimate result. It is easy to note a weak line, and write one more vigorous in its place; to find a happiness of expression in the original, and transplant it by force into the version: but what is given to the parts may be subducted from the whole, and the reader may be weary, though the critick may commend. Works of imagination excel by their allurement and delight; by their power of attracting and detaining the attention. That book is good in vain, which the reader throws away. He only is the master, who keeps the mind in pleasing captivity; whose pages are perused with eagerness, and in hope of new pleasure are perused again; and whose conclusion is perceived with an eye of sorrow, such as the traveller casts upon departing day.
Source: Star Maker (1937), Chapter XV: The Maker and His Works; 2. Mature Creating (pp. 176-177)
V. S. Pritchett, The Tale Bearers: English and American Writers (1980) [Random House, ISBN 0-394-74683-X], "Edmund Wilson: Towards Revolution," p. 141
The Tale Bearers: English and American Writers (1980)
“The reader collaborates with the author in every book, or The reader is co-author in every book.”
Tout livre a pour collaborateur son lecteur
Source: Biographical notice http://www.evene.fr/celebre/biographie/maurice-barres-499.php on Evene
A Treatise on Isoperimetrical Problems, and the Calculus of Variations (1810)
Context: The Authors who write near the beginnings of science, are, in general the most instructive: they take the reader more along with them, shew him the real difficulties, and, which is a main point, teach him the subject, the way by which they themselves learned it.<!--Preface p. v-iv
Inaugural Address (March 5, 1849).
On the staying power of literature in “Samanta Schweblin on Revealing Darkness Through Fiction” https://lithub.com/samanta-schweblin-on-revealing-darkness-through-fiction/ in LitHub (2017 Jan 12)