Genuinely held theory requires resistant struggle, not fluent facility

Evidence

I want to suggest a different metaphor for theoretical work: the metaphor of struggle, of wrestling with the angels. The only theory worth having is that which you have to fight off, not that which you speak with profound fluency. I mean to say something later about the astonishing theoretical fluency of Cultural Studies now. But my own experience of theory—and Marxism is certainly a case in point—is of wrestling with the angels, a metaphor you can take as literally as you like. I remember wrestling with Althusser. I remember looking at the idea of “theoretical practice” in Reading Capital and thinking, “I’ve gone as far in this book as it is proper to go.” I felt, I will not give an inch to this profound misreading, this superstructuralist mistranslation, of classical Marxism, unless he beats me down, unless he defeats me in the spirit. He’ll have to march over me to convince me. I warred with him, to the death. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 242

Categorization

• QUESTION: What does it say about fluency that Hall concedes Cultural Studies now speaks it so easily — is facility necessarily a loss? Worth chasing.
• SEED: Essay angle: what we gain and lose in the gap between theory one fights for and theory one is fluent in.
• APHORISMS: The idea that only resisted theory is truly owned carries genuine life-advice, though framed as method rather than practical counsel.
• XREF: connects to: Liberatory struggle requires claiming theory as practice, not merely critiquing misuse