“A novel is a mirror which passes over a highway. Sometimes it reflects to your eyes the blue of the skies, at others the churned-up mud of the road.” SometimesEyeNovelSkyMirrorsBlueMudHighways Author:Stendhal
“A mirror does not develop because an historical pageant passes in front of it. It only develops when it gets a fresh coat of quicksilver in other words, when it acquires new sensitiveness; and the novel's success lies in its own sensitiveness, not in the success of its subject matter.” DoeMatterLyingNovelSubjectsFrontsMirrorsHistoricalAcquireCoatsSubject MatterPageant Book:Aspects Of the Novel Source: Aspects Of the Novel
“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
“The term "bend sinister" means a heraldic bar or band drawn from the left side (and popularly, but incorrectly, supposed to denote bastardy). This choice of title was an attempt to suggest an outline broken by refraction, a distortion in the mirror of being, a wrong turn taken by life, a sinistral and sinister world. The title's drawback is that a solemn reader looking for "general ideas" or "human interest" (which is much the same thing) in a novel may be led to look for them in this one.” WorldHumansLooksMayMeanIdeasTurnsChoicesLeftSidesTermInterestNovelTakenBrokenReaderBandMirrorsBarsTitlesSolemnOutlinesDistortionSinisterDrawbacksWrong Turn Author:Vladimir Nabokov