I want to put two of his quotes side by side to show
what I think is a central insight into the nature of the novel.
Experience is never limited, and it is never complete; it
is an immense sensibility, a kind of huge spider-web of the finest silken
threads suspended in the chamber of consciousness, and catching every air-borne
particle in its tissue.
-Henry
James
The only reason for the
existence of a novel is that it does attempt to represent life.
-Henry
James
The second quote gets at what the art of the novel
is all about. It is not just a
story. A short story tells a story, but
it does not represent life. A novel reproduces
experience, and what is experience? From
James’ first quote, a web of consciousness.
And it doesn’t necessarily correlate with length. Some novels are just expanded stories, but a
truly great novel represents a web of consciousness through story.
So tell US (usual sinners) when you're going to write your first web of consciousness Manny?
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