Show, Don't Tell

"But the books you like must also be read with shudders and gasps… Literature, real literature, must not be gulped down like some potion which may be good for the heart or good for the brain -the brain, that stomach of the soul. Literature must be taken and broken to bits, pulled apart, squashed -then its lovely reek will be smelt in the hollow of the palm, it will be munched and rolled upon the tongue with relish; broken and crushed parts will again come together in your mind and disclose the beauty of a unity to which you will have contributed something of your own blood."

Vladimir Nabokov, in his rather critical lecture on Dostoevksy, arguing that while there is pleasure to be taken in dismantling mediocre literature it is just as necessary to interrogate and re-imagine one’s favorite works. (via mills)