Insofar as we, critics of the black tradition, master our craft, we serve both to preserve our own traditions and to shape their direction. All great writers demand great critics.
Source: Literary Theory and the Black Tradition, Figures in Black, 1989.
-- Henry Louis Gates, Jr, (Sep 16 1950-____), US educator, critic, author; He is the W.E.B. DuBois Professor of Humanities at Harvard University; won the American Book Award for The Signifying Monkey.