“The Novelist As Teacher”: “I would be quite satisfied if my novels (especially the ones I set in the past) did no more than teach my readers that their past – with all its imperfections – was not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on God’s behalf delivered them.” IfsFirstsLongWould BePastNightActingTeachNovelTeacherReaderSatisfiedNovelistsImperfectionBehalfSavageryLong Nights Book:Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism Source: Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism
“There are novels that end well, but in between there are human beings acting like human beings. And human beings are not perfect. All of the motives a human being may have, which are mixed, that's the novelists' materials. That's where they have to go. And a lot of that just isn't pretty. We like to think of ourselves as really, really good people. But look in the mirror. Really look. Look at your own mixed motives. And then multiply that.” PeopleThinkingHumansWellsLooksMayEndsHuman BeingsPerfectActingNovelMaterialsMirrorsNovelistsMotiveGood PeopleNot Perfect Author:Margaret Atwood
“I think there's a real connection between acting and writing novels because the way I write characters has a little bit to do with the method acting that I was taught in high school and college.” ThinkingWayWritingLittlesRealCharacterSchoolBitsActingNovelTaughtCollegeLittle BitHigh SchoolConnectionsMethodMethod ActingReal Connection Author:Jeffrey Eugenides
“I've been asked which of the other arts novel-writing is most like, and I have come to believe it is acting. Of course, in terms of pattern it can be like music, in terms of structure it can be like painting, but the job to me is most like acting.” WritingBelieveArtJobsCoursesTermActingNovelPaintingStructurePatternsNovel Writing Author:Andrew O'Hagan
“You will permit me to say, that a greater drama is now acting on this theatre than has heretofore been brought on the American tage, or any other in the world. We exhibit at present the novel and astonishing spectacle of a whole people deliberating calmly on what form of government will be most conducive to their happiness; and deciding with an unexpected degree of unanimity in favour of a system which they conceive calculated to answer the purpose.” PeopleWorldWholeGovernmentFormPurposeAnswersActingNovelGreaterDramaDegreesTheatreUnexpectedPermitFavourAstonishingExhibitsForms Of GovernmentUnanimity Author:George Washington