“A good novel is one that shows the complexity of individuals, and creates enough space for all these characters to have a voice; in this way a novel is called democratic — not that it advocates democracy but that by nature it is so.”
Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003)
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Azar Nafisi 28
Iranaian academic and writer 1955Related quotes

"An Interview with Mr. John Dos Passos," New York Times, Nov 23 1941

Pierre Fauchery, as quoted by the character "Jules Labarthe"
The Age for Love

“Characters in novels are all fiction like the world they live in.”
Chin Wag At The Slaughterhouse (2013)
Context: Characters in novels are all fiction like the world they live in. Of course Vivien Lash has things in common with me but if she actually was me I wouldn’t have been able to invent her. And I’m not plotting to murder my husband!
The closest connection between me and my characters is that we live in a city that’s recognisable as London, but it’s a version of London that came out of my head.

Cassandra (1860)

“Axiom: Novel must have either one living character or a perfect pattern: fails otherwise.”
Source: Commonplace Book (1985), p. 6

Letter to Upton Sinclair (19 August 1927)