The idea of some people being less than people is poison to any society and needs to be named as such in order to halt its spread before it turns the soul of a society septic.
Richard FlanaganRead
I do not share the pessimism of the age about the novel. They are one of our greatest spiritual, aesthetic and intellectual inventions. As a species it is story that distinguishes us, and one of the supreme expressions of story is the novel. Novels are not content. Nor are they are a mirror to life or an explanation of life or a guide to life. Novels are life, or they are nothing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the novel's vital role in human experience, portraying it as an essential expression of life itself.
Richard Flanagan celebrates the novel as a profound artistic and spiritual achievement that captures the essence of human experience. He argues that novels should not merely reflect or explain life but rather embody it, suggesting that they are integral to our identity as storytellers. In his view, the pessimism surrounding the relevance of novels is misplaced, as they represent one of our most significant contributions to culture and understanding.
Themes
NovelStoryLifeArtLiteratureExpression
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a discussion about the importance of literature in education.
More from Richard Flanagan
All quotes →I never know what I am writing. The moment you know what you're writing, you're writing nothing worth reading.
Richard FlanaganRead
My father was a Japanese prisoner of war, a survivor of the Thai-Burma Death Railway, built by a quarter of a million slave labourers in 1943. Between 100,000 and 200,000 died.
Richard FlanaganRead
If 30 Australians drowned in Sydney Harbour, it would be a national tragedy. But when 30 or more refugees drown off the Australian coast, it is a political question.
Richard FlanaganRead
Is it easier for a man to live his life again as a fish, than to accept the wonder of being human? So alone, so frightened, so wanting for what we are afraid to give tongue to.
Richard FlanaganRead
After writing a novel, what is there to say? If a novelist could say it in a maxim, they wouldn't need 120,000 words, several years and sundry characters, plots and subplots, and so on. I'd much rather listen always.
Richard FlanaganRead
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