The Rhetoric of Fiction Quotes

“There is pleasure from learning the simple truth, and there is a pleasure from learning that the truth is not simple.”
― Wayne C. Booth, The Rhetoric of Fiction

“the author’s judgment is always present, always evident to anyone who knows how to look for it. Whether its particular forms are harmful or serviceable is always a complex question, a question that cannot be settled by any easy reference to abstract rules. As we begin now to deal with this question, we must never forget that though the author can to some extent choose his disguises, he can never choose to disappear.”
― Wayne C. Booth, The Rhetoric of Fiction

“the implied Shakespeare is thoroughly engaged with life, and he does not conceal his judgment on the selfish, the foolish, and the cruel.”
― Wayne C. Booth, The Rhetoric of Fiction

“Our main quarrel is with the author who makes his personal appearance a substitute for the artistic presentation of his subject, thinking that talking about the subject is equivalent to presenting it.”6”
― Wayne C. Booth, The Rhetoric of Fiction