--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Here the phenomenologist has nothing in…" description: "\"“Here the phenomenologist has nothing in common with the literary critic who, as has frequently been noted, judges a work that he could not create and,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/917/gaston-bachelard-2318_books_here-the-phenomenologist-has-nothing-in_1874901.png" --- # Here the phenomenologist has nothing in common with the… ![“Here the phenomenologist has nothing in common with the literary critic who, as has frequently been noted, judges a work that he could not create and, if we are to believe certain facile condemnations, would not want to create. A literary critic is a reader who is necessarily severe. By turning…” quote by Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/917/gaston-bachelard-2318_books_here-the-phenomenologist-has-nothing-in_1874901.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/917/gaston-bachelard-2318_books_here-the-phenomenologist-has-nothing-in_1874901.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/917/gaston-bachelard-2318_books_here-the-phenomenologist-has-nothing-in_1874901.png) > ““Here the phenomenologist has nothing in common with the literary critic who, as has frequently been noted, judges a work that he could not create and, if we are to believe certain facile condemnations, would not want to create. A literary critic is a reader who is necessarily severe. By turning inside out like a glove an overworked complex that has become debased to the point of being part of the vocabulary of statesmen, we might say that the literary critic and the professor of rhetoric, who know-all and judge-all, readily go in for a simplex of superiority. As for me, being an addict of felicitous reading, I only read and re-read what I like, with a bit of reader's pride mixed in with much enthusiasm.”” [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Critics often claim authority without creating, leading to a superiority complex; true appreciation comes from personal enthusiasm and selective reading. **In simple terms:** Critics can be elitist; personal joy matters. Key Takeaway Read what you love and stay humble. Themes criticism elitism personal taste humility reading practice Mood analytical thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - book clubs - academic reviews - personal reading habits - creative writing Key Concepts Phenomenology literary theory epistemology Questions to Reflect On - What does it mean to be a “good” critic? - How can humility improve literary analysis? A Different Perspective Superiority can blind genuine insight. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Critic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/critic/) [Critic Frequently](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/critic-frequently-2611505/) [Critic Professor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/critic-professor-2611504/) [Critic Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/critic-reader-2611503/) [Literary Critic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary-critic-533826/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ## Related quotes > [A critic is a reader who ruminates. Thus, he should have more than one stomach.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/a-critic-is-a-reader-who-ruminates-thus-he-should-have-more-than-one/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Any one who chooses will set up for a literary critic, though he cannot tell us where he went to school, or how much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-basil/any-one-who-chooses-will-set-up-for-a-literary-critic-though-he/) [Saint Basil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-basil/) > [“Soon after I left university, I came up with another definition of a literary critic or would be critic: someoone who uses churlish towards…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-murnane/soon-after-i-left-university-i-came-up-with-another-definition-of-a/) [Gerald Murnane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-murnane/) > [“A literary critic should have no emotions except those immediately provoked by a work of art.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-3/a-literary-critic-should-have-no-emotions-except-those-immediately/) [T S Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-3/) > [No publisher should ever express an opinion of the value of what he publishes. That is a matter entirely for the literary critic to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/no-publisher-should-ever-express-an-opinion-of-the-value-of-what-he/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [A literary critic is someone who can't write, but who loves to show he would have been a wonderful writer if only he could!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-lumley/a-literary-critic-is-someone-who-can-t-write-but-who-loves-to-show-he/) [Brian Lumley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-lumley/) > [Every literary critic believes he will outwit history and have the last word.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/every-literary-critic-believes-he-will-outwit-history-and-have-the/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [I don't even know what a serious literary critic is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-grisham/i-don-t-even-know-what-a-serious-literary-critic-is/) [John Grisham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-grisham/) > [A literary critic is a person who finds meaning in literature that the author didn't know was there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/a-literary-critic-is-a-person-who-finds-meaning-in-literature-that/) [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/) > [“The beauty of being a bookseller is that you don't have to be a literary critic: all you have to do to books is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-morley/the-beauty-of-being-a-bookseller-is-that-you-don-t-have-to-be-a/) [Christopher Morley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-morley/) > [I wouldn't call myself a 'literary critic,' just a book reviewer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neel-mukherjee/i-wouldn-t-call-myself-a-literary-critic-just-a-book-reviewer/) [Neel Mukherjee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neel-mukherjee/) > [“My advice to a budding literary critic would be as follows. Learn to distinguish banality. Remember that mediocrity thrives on "ideas." Beware of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/my-advice-to-a-budding-literary-critic-would-be-as-follows-learn-to/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [I've always tried out my material on my dogs first. Years ago, when my red setter chewed up the manuscript of 'Of Mice and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-ve-always-tried-out-my-material-on-my-dogs-first-years-ago-when-my/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“As the literary critic and writer Leon Wieseltier remarks, “every technology is used before it is completely understood.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-p-lynch/as-the-literary-critic-and-writer-leon-wieseltier-remarks-every/) [Michael P. Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-p-lynch/) > [“But now it seems clear that literary criticism was inherently doomed. Explicitly or otherwise it had based itself on a structure of echelons and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/but-now-it-seems-clear-that-literary-criticism-was-inherently-doomed/) [Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/) ## More by Gaston Bachelard > [Dreaming by the river, I dedicated my imagination to water, to clear, green water, the water that makes the meadows green.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/dreaming-by-the-river-i-dedicated-my-imagination-to-water-to-clear/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [If we did not have a feminine being within us, how would we rest ourselves?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/if-we-did-not-have-a-feminine-being-within-us-how-would-we-rest/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [The image can only be studied through the image, by dreaming images as they gather in reverie. 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One hears them with their sounds divorced.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/in-writing-you-discover-interior-sonorities-in-words-dipthongs-sound/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [Here we are at the very core of the thesis we wish to defend in the present essay: reverie is under the sign of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/here-we-are-at-the-very-core-of-the-thesis-we-wish-to-defend-in-the/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [There are children who will leave a game to go and be bored in a corner of the garret. How often have I wished…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/there-are-children-who-will-leave-a-game-to-go-and-be-bored-in-a/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [Ideas are refined and multiplied in the commerce of minds. In their splendor, images effect a very simple communion of souls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/ideas-are-refined-and-multiplied-in-the-commerce-of-minds-in-their/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [The poetic image is a sudden salience on the surface of the psyche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/the-poetic-image-is-a-sudden-salience-on-the-surface-of-the-psyche/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [In our view any awareness is an increment to consciousness, an added light, a reinforcement of psychic coherence. Its swiftness or instantaneity can hide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/in-our-view-any-awareness-is-an-increment-to-consciousness-an-added/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [Imagination is a tree. It has the integrative virtues of a tree. It is root and boughs. It lives between earth and sky. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/imagination-is-a-tree-it-has-the-integrative-virtues-of-a-tree-it-is/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [Two half philosophers will probably never a whole metaphysician make.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/two-half-philosophers-will-probably-never-a-whole-metaphysician-make/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [Irony gives us, at little expense, the impression that we are experienced psychologists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/irony-gives-us-at-little-expense-the-impression-that-we-are/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) [Explore all 166 Gaston Bachelard quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) ## 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! 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By turning inside out like a glove an overworked complex that has become debased to the point of being part of the vocabulary of statesmen, we might say that the literary critic and the professor of rhetoric, who know-all and judge-all, readily go in for a simplex of superiority. 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