I've always had a compassion for characters in novels - the sense that they are, whatever they might think, living in a world that has a shape they don't know and can't finally alter.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the complexity of characters in novels, emphasizing their lack of control over their destinies.
This quote by John Crowley highlights the inherent struggle of fictional characters who, despite their thoughts and desires, find themselves bound by the confines of a narrative they cannot influence. It draws attention to the notion that while characters navigate their worlds, they are ultimately shaped by the author's intentions and the structure of the story, paralleling human experiences where individuals often feel powerless in the face of larger forces at play in their lives.
In practice
During a book club discussion about character development.
She had always lived her best life in dreams. She knew no greater pleasure than that moment of passage into the other place, when her limbs grew warm and heavy and the sparkling darkness behind her lids became ordered and doors opened; when conscious thought grew owl's wings and talons and became other than conscious.
Just as a lamp waved in darkness creates a figure of light in the air, which remains for as long as the lamp repeats its motion exactly, so the universe retains its shape by repetition: the universe is Time's body. And how will we perceive this body? And how operate on it?
It is left... to the juries, if they think the permanent judges are under any bias whatever in any cause, to take on themselves to judge the law as well as the fact. They never exercise this power but when they suspect partiality in the judges; and by the exercise of this power they have been the firmest bulwarks of English liberty.
Everything trends towards catastrophe & collapse. I am interested, geared up & happy. Is it not horrible to be built like that?
The moon is brighter since the barn burned.
The human body is vapor materialized by sunshine mixed with the life of the stars.
I recently spoke at a university where a student told me it was such a shame that Nigerian men were physical abusers like the father character in my novel. I told him that I had recently read a novel called American Psycho,and that it was a shame that young Americans were serial murderers.
'Tis not need we know our every thought Or see the work shop where each mask is wrought Wherefrom we view the world of box and pit, Careless of wear, just so the mask shall fit And serve our jape's turn for a night or two.
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