--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The degree of rigidity is a matter of…" description: "\"“The degree of rigidity is a matter of profound interest in the study of literary fictions. As an extreme case you will find some novel, probably conte..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/415/frank-kermode-16485_books_the-degree-of-rigidity-is-a-matter-of-pr_1560526.jpg" --- # The degree of rigidity is a matter of profound interest in… ![“The degree of rigidity is a matter of profound interest in the study of literary fictions. As an extreme case you will find some novel, probably contemporary with yourself, in which the departure from a basic paradigm, the peripeteia in the sense I am now giving it, seems to begin with the first…” quote by Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/415/frank-kermode-16485_books_the-degree-of-rigidity-is-a-matter-of-pr_1560526.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/415/frank-kermode-16485_books_the-degree-of-rigidity-is-a-matter-of-pr_1560526.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/415/frank-kermode-16485_books_the-degree-of-rigidity-is-a-matter-of-pr_1560526.jpg) > ““The degree of rigidity is a matter of profound interest in the study of literary fictions. As an extreme case you will find some novel, probably contemporary with yourself, in which the departure from a basic paradigm, the peripeteia in the sense I am now giving it, seems to begin with the first sentence. The schematic expectations of the reader are discouraged immediately. Since by definition one seeks the maximum peripeteia (in this extended sense) in the fiction of one's own time, the best instance I can give is from Alain Robbe-Grillet. He refuses to speak of his 'theory' of the novel; it is the old ones who talk about the need for plot, character, and so forth, who have the theories. And without them one can achieve a new realism, and a narrative in which 'le temps se trouve coupé de la temporalité. Il ne coule plus.' And so we have a novel in which,. the reader will find none of the gratification to be had from sham temporality, sham causality, falsely certain description, clear story. The new novel 'repeats itself, bisects itself, modifies itself, contradicts itself, without even accumulating enough bulk to constitute a past--and thus a "story," in the traditional sense of the word.' The reader is not offered easy satisfactions, but a challenge to creative co-operation.”” [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote argues that modern fiction can deliberately break conventional narrative expectations, using structural disruption to force readers into active, creative engagement rather than passive consumption. **In simple terms:** Modern novels can disrupt story flow to engage readers actively. Key Takeaway Embrace narrative experiments that challenge expectations. Themes literature innovation reader engagement structure postmodernism Mood provocative intellectual challenging Type critical theoretical analytical When to use this quote - academic analysis - creative writing - book clubs - literary criticism - teaching literature Key Concepts Narrative disruption peripeteia new realism co-creative reading Questions to Reflect On - How does narrative instability affect your reading experience? - Can you find meaning in a story that refuses a clear plot? A Different Perspective Such disruption may alienate readers seeking traditional plot and clarity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Literary criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary-criticism/) [Paradigm Peripeteia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paradigm-peripeteia-5852891/) [Realism Narrative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realism-narrative-5852890/) [Rigidity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rigidity/) [Temporality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/temporality/) [Theory Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theory-novel-5852889/) ## Related quotes > [“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/) > [“A sixteenth-century poet, especially one who knew that he ought to be a curious and universal scholar, would possess some notions, perhaps not strictly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/a-sixteenth-century-poet-especially-one-who-knew-that-he-ought-to-be/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“Bohr is really doing what the Stoic allegorists did to close the gap between their world and Homer's, or what St. Augustine did when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/bohr-is-really-doing-what-the-stoic-allegorists-did-to-close-the-gap/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“What, then, can Shakespearean tragedy, on this brief view, tell us about human time in an eternal world? It offers imagery of crisis, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/what-then-can-shakespearean-tragedy-on-this-brief-view-tell-us-about/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“For Aristotle the literary plot was analogous to the plot of the world in that both were eductions from the potency of matter. Sartre…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/for-aristotle-the-literary-plot-was-analogous-to-the-plot-of-the/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“The formerly absolute distinction between time and eternity in Christian thought--between nunc movens with its beginning and end, and nunc stans, the perfect possession…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-formerly-absolute-distinction-between-time-and-eternity-in/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“I hope I have now made it clear why I thought it best, in speaking of the dissonances between fiction and reality in our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/i-hope-i-have-now-made-it-clear-why-i-thought-it-best-in-speaking-of/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“You sometimes hear people say, with a certain pride in their clerical resistance to the myth, that the nineteenth century really ended not in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/you-sometimes-hear-people-say-with-a-certain-pride-in-their-clerical/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“The great majority of interpretations of Apocalypse assume that the End is pretty near. Consequently the historical allegory is always having to be revised;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-great-majority-of-interpretations-of-apocalypse-assume-that-the/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“It might be useful here to say a word about Beckett, as a link between the two stages, and as illustrating the shift towards…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/it-might-be-useful-here-to-say-a-word-about-beckett-as-a-link-between/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“The discords of our experience--delight in change, fear of change; the death of the individual and the survival of the species, the pains and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-discords-of-our-experience-delight-in-change-fear-of-change-the/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“The novel, then, provides a reduction of the world different from that of the treatise. It has to lie. Words, thoughts, patterns of word…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-novel-then-provides-a-reduction-of-the-world-different-from-that/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“When tragedy established itself in England it did so in terms of plots and spectacle that had much more to do with medieval apocalypse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/when-tragedy-established-itself-in-england-it-did-so-in-terms-of/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“It is already the fashion to diminish Eliot by calling him derivative, the mouthpiece of Pound, and so forth; and yet if one wanted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/it-is-already-the-fashion-to-diminish-eliot-by-calling-him-derivative/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“IT is worth remembering that the rise of what we call literary fiction happened at a time when the revealed, authenticated account of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/it-is-worth-remembering-that-the-rise-of-what-we-call-literary/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) ## More by Frank Kermode > [“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/) > [“It is already the fashion to diminish Eliot by calling him derivative, the mouthpiece of Pound, and so forth; and yet if one wanted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/it-is-already-the-fashion-to-diminish-eliot-by-calling-him-derivative/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“I suppose it would be better if one were aggressive, contentious and so on. But there's rarely any occasion to be savage.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/i-suppose-it-would-be-better-if-one-were-aggressive-contentious-and/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“When tragedy established itself in England it did so in terms of plots and spectacle that had much more to do with medieval apocalypse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/when-tragedy-established-itself-in-england-it-did-so-in-terms-of/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“The novel, then, provides a reduction of the world different from that of the treatise. It has to lie. Words, thoughts, patterns of word…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-novel-then-provides-a-reduction-of-the-world-different-from-that/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“The books which seal off the long perspectives, which sever us from our losses, which represent the world of potency as a world of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-books-which-seal-off-the-long-perspectives-which-sever-us-from/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“the buoyancy of chiliasts”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-buoyancy-of-chiliasts/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [It is one of the great charms of books that they have to end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/it-is-one-of-the-great-charms-of-books-that-they-have-to-end/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“The discords of our experience--delight in change, fear of change; the death of the individual and the survival of the species, the pains and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-discords-of-our-experience-delight-in-change-fear-of-change-the/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“It might be useful here to say a word about Beckett, as a link between the two stages, and as illustrating the shift towards…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/it-might-be-useful-here-to-say-a-word-about-beckett-as-a-link-between/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“The great majority of interpretations of Apocalypse assume that the End is pretty near. Consequently the historical allegory is always having to be revised;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-great-majority-of-interpretations-of-apocalypse-assume-that-the/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“You sometimes hear people say, with a certain pride in their clerical resistance to the myth, that the nineteenth century really ended not in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/you-sometimes-hear-people-say-with-a-certain-pride-in-their-clerical/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“Having compared the novel-reader with an infant and a primitive, one can go further and call him a psychopath; and this I shall shortly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/having-compared-the-novel-reader-with-an-infant-and-a-primitive-one/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“I hope I have now made it clear why I thought it best, in speaking of the dissonances between fiction and reality in our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/i-hope-i-have-now-made-it-clear-why-i-thought-it-best-in-speaking-of/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“The formerly absolute distinction between time and eternity in Christian thought--between nunc movens with its beginning and end, and nunc stans, the perfect possession…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-formerly-absolute-distinction-between-time-and-eternity-in/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) [Explore all 39 Frank Kermode quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) [Christopher K. Krebs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-k-krebs/) > [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) [Markus Herz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/markus-herz/) > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The degree of rigidity is a matter of profound interest in the study of literary fictions. As an extreme case you will find some novel, probably contemporary with yourself, in which the departure from a basic paradigm, the peripeteia in the sense I am now giving it, seems to begin with the first sentence. The schematic expectations of the reader are discouraged immediately. Since by definition one seeks the maximum peripeteia (in this extended sense) in the fiction of one's own time, the best instance I can give is from Alain Robbe-Grillet. He refuses to speak of his 'theory' of the novel; it is the old ones who talk about the need for plot, character, and so forth, who have the theories. And without them one can achieve a new realism, and a narrative in which 'le temps se trouve coupé de la temporalité. Il ne coule plus.' And so we have a novel in which,. the reader will find none of the gratification to be had from sham temporality, sham causality, falsely certain description, clear story. The new novel 'repeats itself, bisects itself, modifies itself, contradicts itself, without even accumulating enough bulk to constitute a past--and thus a \"story,\" in the traditional sense of the word.' The reader is not offered easy satisfactions, but a challenge to creative co-operation.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Frank Kermode" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-degree-of-rigidity-is-a-matter-of-profound-interest-in-the-study/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-degree-of-rigidity-is-a-matter-of-profound-interest-in-the-study/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/415/frank-kermode-16485_books_the-degree-of-rigidity-is-a-matter-of-pr_1560526.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/415/frank-kermode-16485_books_the-degree-of-rigidity-is-a-matter-of-pr_1560526.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/415/frank-kermode-16485_books_the-degree-of-rigidity-is-a-matter-of-pr_1560526.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The degree of rigidity is a matter of profound interest in the study of literary fictions. As an extreme…” — Frank Kermode", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Frank Kermode", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The degree of rigidity is a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-degree-of-rigidity-is-a-matter-of-profound-interest-in-the-study/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-degree-of-rigidity-is-a-matter-of-profound-interest-in-the-study/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```