It had been my accidental reading of fiction and literary criticism that had invoked in me vague glimpses of life's possibilities.

我偶尔会读小说和文学评述,这让我隐约地窥探到,生活的可能性，“

耶鲁公开课 - 1945年后的美国小说课程节选

Whereas most utterances purport to be saying something true about the actual state of things in the world, literary utterance is under no such obligation, the argument goes, and ought properly to be understood as fiction making it up as opposed to referring.

大多数言辞都是对事物的真实状况的,真实反映，而这种观点认为，文学没有这个义务，应该把文学理解为小说,它是虚构而不是实指。

耶鲁公开课 - 文学理论导论课程节选