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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.

— James Wood The Irresponsible Self (2004)

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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.

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.

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.