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Frank Kermode Quotes

It is one of the great charms of books that they have to end.

It is one of the great charms of books that they have to end.

Frank Kermode
Book, Charm, Ends
Frank Kermode (2000). “The Sense of an Ending: Studies in the Theory of Fiction with a New Epilogue”, p.21, Oxford University Press

It is ourselves we encounter whenever we invent fictions.

Frank Kermode
Encounters, Fiction

It is not expected of critics that they should help us to make sense of our lives; they are bound only to attempt the lesser feat of making sense of the ways we try to make sense of our lives.

Frank Kermode
Trying, Way, Helping
Frank Kermode (2000). “The Sense of an Ending: Studies in the Theory of Fiction with a New Epilogue”, p.9, Oxford University Press

I noticed affixed to a laboratory door the following words: "Les théories passent. Le Grenouille reste. [The theories pass. The frog remains.] &mdashJean Rostand, Carnets d'un biologiste." There is a risk that in the less severe discipline of criticism the result may turn out to be different; the theories will remain but the frog may disappear.

Frank Kermode
Science, Doors, Differences

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