The novel is the highest form of human expression so far attained. Why? Because it is so incapable of the absolute.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Novels attempt to render human experience; that's really all they are. They are meant to convey empathy for the character.
The acceptance that all that is solid has melted into the air, that reality and morality are not givens but imperfect human constructs, is the point from which fiction begins.
A novel, even a social realist one, can't simply be a comprehensive rendering of what is. A novel requires a special angle or approach, whether in structure or language or theme, to justify itself.
The function of the novel is the exploration of the human condition. Really, that's what it's all about.
If you write a book that's as powerful and successful as 'Bastard,' there's a strong desire to prove there's something else.
I just think that fiction that isn't exploring what it means to be human today isn't art.
Only a literary work that reveals an unknown fragment of human existence has a reason for being.
Literature is one of the most interesting and significant expressions of humanity.
The only reason for the existence of a novel is that it does attempt to represent life.
Fiction's about what it is to be a human being.