“I have learned a great deal from novels. Some of it is even true.”
“All novels are sequels; influence is bliss.”
Hearing Secret Harmonies (1975), ch. 3.
A Dance to the Music of Time (1951-1975)
Pierre Fauchery, as quoted by the character "Jules Labarthe"
The Age for Love
“All novels are fantasies. Some are more honest about it.”
“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.
"The Art of Fiction: An Interview" (The Paris Review, Spring 1955), in The Collected Essays, ed. John F. Callahan (New York: Modern Library, 1995), p. 212.
