--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I still found literary criticism to be a…" description: "\"I still found literary criticism to be a suspect activity\" — Alison Bechdel" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a37/alison-bechdel-7240_activity_i-still-found-literary-criticism-to-be-a_941848.jpg" --- # I still found literary criticism to be a suspect activity ![“I still found literary criticism to be a suspect activity” quote by Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a37/alison-bechdel-7240_activity_i-still-found-literary-criticism-to-be-a_941848.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a37/alison-bechdel-7240_activity_i-still-found-literary-criticism-to-be-a_941848.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a37/alison-bechdel-7240_activity_i-still-found-literary-criticism-to-be-a_941848.jpg) > “I still found literary criticism to be a suspect activity” [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Literary criticism is viewed with suspicion, questioning its motives and value. **In simple terms:** Criticism can seem doubtful or untrustworthy. Key Takeaway Question the purpose of analysis. Themes literary criticism suspicion trust interpretation artistic value Mood thoughtful skeptical analytical Type critical philosophical When to use this quote - book clubs - academic seminars - art reviews - personal reading Key Concepts critical theory subjectivity bias Questions to Reflect On - Why might criticism be seen as suspect? - What makes criticism constructive? A Different Perspective May dismiss legitimate critique. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Activity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/activity/) [Criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism/) [Criticism Suspect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism-suspect-1615466/) [Found](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/found/) [Literary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary/) [Literary criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary-criticism/) [Stills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stills/) [Suspect Activity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suspect-activity-1615467/) [Suspects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suspects/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [I don't believe in pulling punches or being judicious, as the standard in literary criticism or academic musicology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-christgau/i-don-t-believe-in-pulling-punches-or-being-judicious-as-the-standard/) [Robert Christgau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-christgau/) > [Determining the value of individual texts has been an ideological scuffle in literary criticism for centuries: but the environmental cost of printing them hauls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tristram-stuart/determining-the-value-of-individual-texts-has-been-an-ideological/) [Tristram Stuart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tristram-stuart/) > [In the old days of literature, only the very thick-skinned - or the very brilliant - dared enter the arena of literary criticism. To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanne-harris/in-the-old-days-of-literature-only-the-very-thick-skinned-or-the-very/) [Joanne Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanne-harris/) > [I also encourage my students to read literary criticism that is deeply personal yet formally inventive and intellectually expansive... books that offer unorthodox ways…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-nixon/i-also-encourage-my-students-to-read-literary-criticism-that-is/) [Rob Nixon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-nixon/) > [After the last line of a poem, nothing follows except literary criticism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/after-the-last-line-of-a-poem-nothing-follows-except-literary/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [“Literary criticism, as I attempt to practice it, is in the first place 'literary', which is to say personal and passionate. It is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/literary-criticism-as-i-attempt-to-practice-it-is-in-the-first-place/) [Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/) > [“The text contains no literary criticism. I wanted to describe books, not to be clever at their expense.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-mcleish/the-text-contains-no-literary-criticism-i-wanted-to-describe-books/) [Kenneth McLeish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-mcleish/) > [What I teach is literary criticism and comparative literature and so on and that's my function, but from time to time it's possible for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/what-i-teach-is-literary-criticism-and-comparative-literature-and-so/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [“Literary criticism is not your forte, my dear fellow. Don't try it. You should leave that to people who haven't been at a University.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/literary-criticism-is-not-your-forte-my-dear-fellow-don-t-try-it-you/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Criticism even should not be without its charms. When quite devoid of all amenities, it is no longer literary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/criticism-even-should-not-be-without-its-charms-when-quite-devoid-of/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [I think as a consequence of that, there is also a fair amount of uncertainty about engaging in political activity that would be immediately…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paikiasothy-saravanamuttu/i-think-as-a-consequence-of-that-there-is-also-a-fair-amount-of/) [Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paikiasothy-saravanamuttu/) > [Historical investigation and literary criticism have taken the magic out of the Bible and have made it a composite human book, written by many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-vaughan/historical-investigation-and-literary-criticism-have-taken-the-magic/) [Bill Vaughan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-vaughan/) > [“If you were to stare at this box of matches, you could extract entire worlds out of it. If you search for tastes in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/witold-gombrowicz/if-you-were-to-stare-at-this-box-of-matches-you-could-extract-entire/) [Witold Gombrowicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/witold-gombrowicz/) > [“Milton argued, in 1649, after the execution of Charles I, that a people 'free by nature' had a right to overthrow a tyrant; a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-carter/milton-argued-in-1649-after-the-execution-of-charles-i-that-a-people/) [Ronald Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-carter/) > [“The first phase of modernism, which so far as the English language goes we associate with Pound and Yeats, Wyndham Lewis and Eliot and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-first-phase-of-modernism-which-so-far-as-the-english-language/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) ## More by Alison Bechdel > [Watching everyone root through their psyche, it just delights me. Especially R. Crumb's stuff.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-bechdel/watching-everyone-root-through-their-psyche-it-just-delights-me/) [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) > [It's imprecise and insufficient, defining the homosexual as a person whose gender expression is at odds with his or her sex.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-bechdel/it-s-imprecise-and-insufficient-defining-the-homosexual-as-a-person/) [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) > [The writing is hard, and the drawing is fun. It's very satisfying to see a drawing start to come together.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-bechdel/the-writing-is-hard-and-the-drawing-is-fun-it-s-very-satisfying-to/) [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) > [Sometimes I wish the writing and drawing were more integrated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-bechdel/sometimes-i-wish-the-writing-and-drawing-were-more-integrated/) [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) > [“My homosexuality remained at that point purely theoretical, an untested hypothesis. But it was a hypothesise so thorough and so convincing I saw no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-bechdel/my-homosexuality-remained-at-that-point-purely-theoretical-an/) [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) > [Autobiographical comics, I love them. I love them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-bechdel/autobiographical-comics-i-love-them-i-love-them/) [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) > [Partly I resented being perceived as weak because I was a girl.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-bechdel/partly-i-resented-being-perceived-as-weak-because-i-was-a-girl/) [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) > [“I put the odds on a psychic deathmatch between Attila the Hun and Virginia Woolf at fifty-fifty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-bechdel/i-put-the-odds-on-a-psychic-deathmatch-between-attila-the-hun-and/) [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) > [Basically, my work is play. It never actually feels that way - I'm always aiming to attain that state. But I get to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-bechdel/basically-my-work-is-play-it-never-actually-feels-that-way-i-m-always/) [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) > [What would happen if we spoke the truth?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-bechdel/what-would-happen-if-we-spoke-the-truth/) [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) > [It was a vicious cycle, though. The more gratification we found in our own geniuses, the more isolated we grew.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-bechdel/it-was-a-vicious-cycle-though-the-more-gratification-we-found-in-our/) [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) > [“Then there were those famous wings. Was Daedalus really stricken with grief when Icarus fell into the sea? Or just disappointed by the design…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-bechdel/then-there-were-those-famous-wings-was-daedalus-really-stricken-with/) [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) > [“In this pause, I suddenly saw something very clearly. Whatever it was I wanted from my mother was simply not there to be had.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-bechdel/in-this-pause-i-suddenly-saw-something-very-clearly-whatever-it-was-i/) [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) > [People really want to think that these things really happened. I don't know why that is important, but I know that when I finish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-bechdel/people-really-want-to-think-that-these-things-really-happened-i-don-t/) [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) > [“It's said, after all, that people reach middle age the day they realize they're never going to read Remembrance of Things Past.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-bechdel/it-s-said-after-all-that-people-reach-middle-age-the-day-they-realize/) [Alison Bechdel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) [Explore all 93 Alison Bechdel quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-bechdel/) ## More Activity quotes > [Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. 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If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/each-man-is-capable-of-doing-one-thing-well-if-he-attempts-several-he/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [And also I think the rise of other, you could say, destinations for international jihadis mean that Pakistan isn't necessarily the place where people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/and-also-i-think-the-rise-of-other-you-could-say-destinations-for/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-evoke-in-oneself-a-feeling-one-has-once-experienced-and-having/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Fighting's fun, man. It's a great activity, it's a great sport.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-mitrione/fighting-s-fun-man-it-s-a-great-activity-it-s-a-great-sport/) [Matt Mitrione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-mitrione/) > [There were books everywhere in my house. Books were very present. I just loved books. I never understood reading as anything but a pleasurable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-lucas/there-were-books-everywhere-in-my-house-books-were-very-present-i/) [Lisa Lucas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-lucas/) > [For war to man, like childbirth to women, is simplifying in its emotions and activities. All the real problems of life can be put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/for-war-to-man-like-childbirth-to-women-is-simplifying-in-its/) [Pearl S. 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