This is a quote I like: "Human beings have their last great chance in the novel."
- E.M. Forster
Here's how I look at that. Characters with no depth or meaning, but only action and characteristics, produce stories that don't matter. What is the "last great chance" that Forster talks about? I don't think it means a chance at fame, or money, or even redemption - though a character might achieve worldly things, or spiritual enlightenment, or anything else. I think, rather, that the human beings that populate a novel have a chance to express their humanity; to express who and what they are. Isn't that what human beings want, after all? Why should a novel be different?
- E.M. Forster
Here's how I look at that. Characters with no depth or meaning, but only action and characteristics, produce stories that don't matter. What is the "last great chance" that Forster talks about? I don't think it means a chance at fame, or money, or even redemption - though a character might achieve worldly things, or spiritual enlightenment, or anything else. I think, rather, that the human beings that populate a novel have a chance to express their humanity; to express who and what they are. Isn't that what human beings want, after all? Why should a novel be different?