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An excess of storytelling has become the contemporary way of shrouding, in majesty, a lack; it is the Sun King principle. The lack is the human.

— James Wood The Irresponsible Self (2004)

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More quotes by James Wood

The hypocrite may serve, among other things, as a deformed ambassador of the truth. By so obviously misrepresenting the truth, he enables us to trace its smothered outlines.

The big contemporary novel is a perpetual motion machine that appears to have been embarrassed into velocity. It seems to want to abolish stillness, as if ashamed of silence. Stories and sub-stories sprout on every page, and these novels continually flourish their glamorous congestion.

The Irresponsible Self (2004)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: James Wood (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.