I began writing when I was still in the British Foreign Service, and it was then understood that even if you wrote about butterfly collecting, you used another name.
John Le CarreRead
Like every novelist, I fantasise about film. Novelists are not equipped to make a movie, in my opinion. They make their own movie when they write: they're casting, they're dressing the scene, they're working out where the energy of the scene is coming from, and they're also relying tremendously on the creative imagination of the reader.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Novels are like films created in the imagination of the reader, with writers crafting vivid scenes.
In this quote, John Le Carre reflects on the similarities between novel writing and filmmaking. He suggests that novelists, while lacking the technical skills to make films, still create their own cinematic experience through their writing. They engage the reader's imagination to fill in visual and emotional details, making the reading experience akin to watching a movie in the mind's eye.
Themes
NovelFilmImaginationCreativityReading
In practice
Example use cases
During a literary discussion, you might say this quote to emphasize the creative power of novelists.
More from John Le Carre
All quotes →In every war zone that I've been in, there has been a reality and then there has been the public perception of why the war was being fought. In every crisis, the issues have been far more complex than the public has been allowed to know.
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The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the other cat’s mat is a story.
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The monsters of our childhood do not fade away, neither are they ever wholly monstrous.
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Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.
John Le CarreRead
If I had to put a name to it, I would wish that all my books were entertainments. I think the first thing you've got to do is grab the reader by the ear, and make him sit down and listen. Make him laugh, make him feel. We all want to be entertained at a very high level.
John Le CarreRead
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