“The symmetry of form attainable in pure fiction can not so readily be achieved in a narration essentially having less to do with fable than with fact.”

— Herman Melville, book Billy Budd, Sailor

Source: Billy Budd, the Sailor (1891), Ch. 28
Context: The symmetry of form attainable in pure fiction can not so readily be achieved in a narration essentially having less to do with fable than with fact. Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges...

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Herman Melville144

American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet 1818–1891

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