The possibility of being as free with the camera as we are with the pen is a fantastic prospect for the creative life of the 21st century.
Carlos FuentesRead
For me, life without literature is inconceivable. I think that Don Quixote in a physical sense never existed, but Don Quixote exists more than anybody who existed in 1605. Much more. There's nobody who can compete with Don Quixote or with Hamlet. So in the end we have the reality of the book as the reality of the world and the reality of history.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Literature is a fundamental part of life, capturing truths that surpass historical existence.
Carlos Fuentes emphasizes the importance of literature in our lives, arguing that characters like Don Quixote and Hamlet embody a deeper reality that transcends their fictional origins. They represent universal truths and insights that resonate more profoundly than historical figures, suggesting that the influence of literature shapes our understanding of existence and reality itself.
Themes
LiteratureDon QuixoteHamletRealityCharacters
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of storytelling in education.
More from Carlos Fuentes
All quotes βWriting is a struggle against silence.
Carlos FuentesRead
Literature overtakes history, for literature gives you more than one life. It expands experience and opens new opportunities to readers.
Carlos FuentesRead
One wants to tell a story, like Scheherezade, in order not to die. It's one of the oldest urges in mankind. It's a way of stalling death.
Carlos FuentesRead
No, it's not that they're bad. It's that they're obliged to pretend they're good. They've been brought up to deceive and be cunning, to protect themselves from our society. I don't want to be like that.
Carlos FuentesRead
You have an absolute freedom in Mexican writing today in which you don't necessarily have to deal with the Mexican identity. You know why? Because we have an identity... We know who we are. We know what it means to be a Mexican.
Carlos FuentesRead
Similar quotes
Novelists, it seems to me, are the very last people who should be asked to comment on the news of the day, and sooner or later, when they have been pilloried for their views, most of them recognise this.
Hilary MantelRead
If you wrote a novel in South Africa which didn't concern the central issues, it wouldn't be worth publishing.
Alan PatonRead
Literature is a defense against the attacks of life. It says to life: You can't deceive me. I know your habits, foresee and enjoy watching all your reactions, and steal your secret by involving you in cunning obstructions that halt your normal flow.
Cesare PaveseRead
We tend to regard history as true and 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' as untrue. That's always puzzled me.
Tim O'BrienRead
No writer must be measured by a word or paragraph. He is to be measured by his work - by the tendency, not of one line, but by the tendency of all.
Robert Green IngersollRead
Ah yes, the paradox of publicity is that even as we do it, we know it's killing off the chance of another reader happening across our book in the ideal state of innocence.
Emma DonoghueRead