Authenticity Quote by Dana Spiotta

“But a good novel is first of all an event; as distinguished from the continuous rush of many sensations and the messy overlapping experiences…

— Anonymous

A novel should tell a story, be a pleasure to read, and at the same time it should be thought-provoking, even a bit instructive.

— Olga Tokarczuk

A novel must give a sense of permanence as well as a sense of life.

— Anonymous

“Every writer is first a member of a community of readers, and the deepest purpose of reading and writing fiction is to sustain a…

— Jonathan Franzen

In general, what we really want is a feeling when we read anything that the author has explored the territory as dutifully and as…

— Hilton Als

I think, consciously or not, what we readers do each time we open a book is to set off a search for authenticity. We…

— Maureen Corrigan

Great literature rattles the mind and makes the body sing. It's an unmistakable, electric feeling, and too rare. That is what I want.

— C.E. Morgan

A great novelist must open the reader's heart, allow the reader to remember the vastness and glory -- and shame and shabbiness -- of…

— Carolyn See

“A novel is the final common pathway of a writer's experiences, fears, wishes, thoughts, feelings & fantasies. All is distilled in a novel.”

— Mark Rubinstein

“A great book does not have to be a literary masterpiece with complicated sentences and words no one has heard of. It has to…

— Amanda Mackey

“Fiction should be in its way subversive. I don't think books should be neat or gentle or genteel or comforting. I think they should…

— Edna O'Brien

“these audible demonstrations that whether the feeling is vested in abstract systems or in personal relationships, the world of the novel’s story runs on…

— Sianne Ngai