Criticism must be free to leap, to yoke in the flash of wit what has always seemed alien, to make the seminal generalization, even when the generalization cannot be statistically supported. Not only the 100 percent truth, but the 60 percent, the 51 percent, can be fertile and provocative. The fear of generalization, like the fear of genius and taste, is an aspect of the cult of the mediocre.
—Leslie Fiedler
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