Criticism that mistakes the projection for the wall

Too much criticism—e.g. Rebecca Solnit’s analysis of Frankenstein, in which Solnit seems preoccupied with Mary Shelley’s life rather than the novel she wrote—is about adding, piling, things on top of what’s there, rather than examining it as it is. While purportedly examining a wall, such critics get a projector and use it to project their own images onto the wall—and, in discussing it, they ignore the wall and are caught up in belief in the projection.