Five Works of Theory You Should Consider Reading

[alice wellintown]

It seems that theory has its tongue so far in the cheek that the
phrase no longer works for the theorist even when taken with a grain
of salt. In other less figurative words, the figure of speech must be
taken in its original meaning, as indication of contempt. For whom?
For the dear reader him or her self or elves. Or maybe the theorist,
so drawn to his mental mirror by the reflexive nature of language, has
neglected the salt of the Earth and put a bushell on the lamp of
thought so that we ordinary readers can no longer taste the salt on
the cheeky tongue of the theorist. Aristotle is a great theorist; his
Poetics, though out of flavor with the theorists, who may find
Longinus more tastey, are still influential.

from Longinus, On the Sublime

It is proper to observe that in human life nothing is truly great
which is despised by all elevated minds. For example, no man of sense
can regard wealth, honour, glory, and power, or any of those things
which are surrounded by a great external parade of pomp and
circumstance, as the highest blessings, seeing that merely to despise
such things is a blessing of no common order: certainly those who
possess them are admired much less than those who, having the
opportunity to acquire them, through greatness of soul neglect it. Now
let us apply this principle to the Sublime in poetry or in prose; let
us ask in all cases, is it merely a specious sublimity? is this
gorgeous exterior a mere false and clumsy pageant, 12 which if laid
open will be found to conceal nothing but emptiness? for if so, a
noble mind will scorn instead of admiring it. 2 It is natural to us to
feel our souls lifted up by the true Sublime, and conceiving a sort of
generous exultation to be filled with joy and pride, as though we had
ourselves originated the ideas which we read. 3 If then any work, on
being repeatedly submitted to the judgment of an acute and cultivated
critic, fails to dispose his mind to lofty ideas; if the thoughts
which it suggests do not extend beyond what is actually expressed; and
if, the longer you read it, the less you think of it,—there can be
here no true sublimity, when the effect is not sustained beyond the
mere act of perusal. But when a passage is pregnant in suggestion,
when it is hard, nay impossible, to distract the attention from it,
and when it takes a strong and lasting hold on the memory, then we may
be sure that we have lighted on the true Sublime. 4 In general we may
regard those words as truly noble and sublime which always please and
please all readers. For when the same book always produces the same
impression on all who read it, whatever be the difference in their
pursuits, their manner of life, their aspirations, their ages, or
their language, such a harmony of opposites gives irresistible
authority to their favourable verdict.