A story is always on the move, and from the author's point of view there is nothing natural about it. Constant readers become writers at the point in life when they acquire a fascination with a process of falsification: with imposing shape while simulating the evolution of character and event, making determinations while fostering an illusion that in the next chapter anything might happen. A novelist spends a lifetime in the business of presenting what's life-like, but not like life. It's a sobering thought - life won't actually do. Verisimilitude and the truth are conjoined twins, one often flourishing at the expense of the other.
--Hilary Mantel, "Real Books in Imaginary Houses"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
-
This morning I took our senior cat Charlie to the vet for his monthly arthritis shot. L. ordered an induction range (on sale!) for our retir...
-
As I said on New Year's Day, one of my projects for the year is to keep track of all the reading done by the characters in the fiction t...
-
Books Read in 2022 (In backwards order) The Snow Hare. Paul Lichtarowicz “He’s Very Well Read.” Catherine Lacey A Psalm for the Wild-Built....
No comments:
Post a Comment