--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Nowhere is the sense of medium felt more…" description: "\"“Nowhere is the sense of medium felt more strongly, even by the casual reader, than in a story about to end. For the novelist the problem is no longer ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/340/ian-gregor-29383_books_nowhere-is-the-sense-of-medium-felt-more_772550.jpg" --- # Nowhere is the sense of medium felt more strongly, even by… ![“Nowhere is the sense of medium felt more strongly, even by the casual reader, than in a story about to end. For the novelist the problem is no longer how to tell his tale, but how to close it down; how to switch imaginative energies which have been used in sustaining the tale, into energies which…” quote by Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/340/ian-gregor-29383_books_nowhere-is-the-sense-of-medium-felt-more_772550.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/340/ian-gregor-29383_books_nowhere-is-the-sense-of-medium-felt-more_772550.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/340/ian-gregor-29383_books_nowhere-is-the-sense-of-medium-felt-more_772550.jpg) > ““Nowhere is the sense of medium felt more strongly, even by the casual reader, than in a story about to end. For the novelist the problem is no longer how to tell his tale, but how to close it down; how to switch imaginative energies which have been used in sustaining the tale, into energies which will not just stop it, but will resolve it. The process of telling must be made to predicate its own conclusion. For the reader, in sight of an ending, the mode of attention shifts, the rhythm alters, and a pressure of significance begins to build up behind the closing chapters. The pace of the narrative begins to slow, the 'ever after' looms, past and present emerge in ever sharper juxtaposition. It is this heightened attention to the medium that characterises the ending and we are not surprised to find that for some novelists 'endings' seem to play false to the narrative which leads to them. 'Conclusions are the weak points of most authors', George Eliot wrote, 'but some of the fault must lie in the very nature of a conclusion which is at best a negation'.”” [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote discusses how endings heighten awareness of the medium, requiring the novelist to transform narrative energy into a resolution, while readers experience shifting attention and significance as a story concludes. **In simple terms:** Endings make readers more aware of how a story is told and demand a thoughtful resolution. Key Takeaway Craft conclusions that transform narrative momentum into meaningful closure. Themes narrative structure closure reader perception authorial intent medium awareness Mood thoughtful analytical reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - Writing a novel - editing a manuscript - literary analysis - teaching creative writing Key Concepts Storytelling dynamics psychology of reading temporal juxtaposition Questions to Reflect On - How can an ending preserve the story’s energy while providing resolution? - What techniques help shift narrative momentum into closure? A Different Perspective Conclusions can feel weak if they merely negate rather than transform the story’s energy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Literary criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary-criticism/) [Past and present](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past-and-present/) ## Related quotes > [I want to stress the importance of being fair to our readers. You should not impose your own view and prejudice on the readers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-ma/i-want-to-stress-the-importance-of-being-fair-to-our-readers-you/) [Jack Ma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-ma/) > [Don´t be unnecessarily burdened by the past. Go on closing the chapters that you have read; there is no need to go back again…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/don-t-be-unnecessarily-burdened-by-the-past-go-on-closing-the/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [Don´t be unnecessarily burdened by the past. Go on closing the chapters that you have read; there is no need to go back again…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/don-t-be-unnecessarily-burdened-by-the-past-go-on-closing-the-2/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [You cannot finish a book without closing the chapters. If you want to move on, then you have to leave the past as you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-cannot-finish-a-book-without-closing-the-chapters-if-you-want-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I am the kind of person who does not like to carry baggage. In fact, I don't go back and listen to my own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-r-rahman/i-am-the-kind-of-person-who-does-not-like-to-carry-baggage-in-fact-i/) [A. R. Rahman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-r-rahman/) > [“The loudness of tone in Jane Eyre is undoubtedly effective in communicating tension and frustration, but the style does of course have its related…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/the-loudness-of-tone-in-jane-eyre-is-undoubtedly-effective-in/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) > [“What then? Are we only to buy the books that we read? The question has merely to be thus bluntly put, and it answers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arnold-bennett/what-then-are-we-only-to-buy-the-books-that-we-read-the-question-has/) [Arnold Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arnold-bennett/) > [Great literature has always been written in a like spirit, and is, indeed, the Forgiveness of Sin, and when we find it becoming the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/great-literature-has-always-been-written-in-a-like-spirit-and-is/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [“consciousness. Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton (1848) and North and South (1855), Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley (1849), George Eliot’s Silas Marner (1861) and many other such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-hegarty/consciousness-elizabeth-gaskell-s-mary-barton-1848-and-north-and/) Neil Hegarty > [“Middlemarch is a novel that is diminished by being put on the screen. It can't help but be, because so much of what we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/middlemarch-is-a-novel-that-is-diminished-by-being-put-on-the-screen/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [“When you asked me to speak about women and fiction I sat down on the banks of a river and began to wonder what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/when-you-asked-me-to-speak-about-women-and-fiction-i-sat-down-on-the/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [But you know, where did the Brontes go to college? Where did George Eliot go to college? Where did Thomas Paine or Thomas Jefferson…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamaica-kincaid/but-you-know-where-did-the-brontes-go-to-college-where-did-george/) [Jamaica Kincaid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamaica-kincaid/) > [For me a Writing Day was an occasion for self-reproach and panic, a time to lament the passing of the years, stare out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/for-me-a-writing-day-was-an-occasion-for-self-reproach-and-panic-a/) [Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/) > [“The angels come to visit us,          and we only know them   when they are gone.     —George Eliot”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-brashares/the-angels-come-to-visit-us-and-we-only-know-them-when-they-are-gone/) [Ann Brashares](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-brashares/) > [I won't go so far as to say that novels sell in inverse proportion to their worth, for just occasionally, someone like Dickens or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/i-won-t-go-so-far-as-to-say-that-novels-sell-in-inverse-proportion-to/) [Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/) ## More by Ian Gregor > [“Because it is written by a nineteenth-century American, and because of its closeness to the twentieth century, The Portrait of a Lady foregoes Victorian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/because-it-is-written-by-a-nineteenth-century-american-and-because-of/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) > [“Reading Mrs Gaskell's Life of Charlotte Brontë after Jane Eyre is a curious experience. The subject of the biography is recognisably the same person…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/reading-mrs-gaskell-s-life-of-charlotte-bront-after-jane-eyre-is-a/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) > [“Wuthering Heights, however it may appear in retrospect, demands a reading of the utmost intensity, the feeling present in the writing seems to seek…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/wuthering-heights-however-it-may-appear-in-retrospect-demands-a/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) > [“Discussions of the effects of serial publication of Victorian novels on their authors and readers1 usually draw attention to the author's peculiar opportunities for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/discussions-of-the-effects-of-serial-publication-of-victorian-novels/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) > [“Indeed, and crucially so, the serial form took the control of the novel away from the reader and left him in an imagined space…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/indeed-and-crucially-so-the-serial-form-took-the-control-of-the-novel/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) > [“The first unanalysed impression that most readers receive from Jane Eyre is that it has a very violent atmosphere. If this were simply the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/the-first-unanalysed-impression-that-most-readers-receive-from-jane/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) > [“What The Mysteries of Udolpho suggests is how a novel, by presenting phenomena before it present resolutions, can create an on-going, perhaps spurious, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/what-the-mysteries-of-udolpho-suggests-is-how-a-novel-by-presenting/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) > [“Novels begin and end with, consist of, and indeed in one sense are nothing but voices. So reading is learning to listen sensitively, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/novels-begin-and-end-with-consist-of-and-indeed-in-one-sense-are/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) > [“We are always sure that the heroine is fiery and passionate, which is quite an achievement when the plot has had to keep her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/we-are-always-sure-that-the-heroine-is-fiery-and-passionate-which-is/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) > [“Length, I want to suggest, has a peculiar significance for the reader of a Victorian novel and especially so if we are concerned with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/length-i-want-to-suggest-has-a-peculiar-significance-for-the-reader/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) > [“The loudness of tone in Jane Eyre is undoubtedly effective in communicating tension and frustration, but the style does of course have its related…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/the-loudness-of-tone-in-jane-eyre-is-undoubtedly-effective-in/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) > [“In serious Victorian fiction, as in Shakespearian tragedy, melodrama normally functions as metaphor. The author finds a vivid equivalent for a reality too elaborate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/in-serious-victorian-fiction-as-in-shakespearian-tragedy-melodrama/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) > [“Whether he chooses a 'scholarly' or a 'popular' edition the modern reader is likely to have his judgement influenced in advance. Almost invariably he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/whether-he-chooses-a-scholarly-or-a-popular-edition-the-modern-reader/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) > [“If a writer has to find a rhythm if his novel is to come 'right', a rhythm which he may well discover in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/if-a-writer-has-to-find-a-rhythm-if-his-novel-is-to-come-right-a/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) > [“t this point I would like to return to the question of the plot movement and the different narrative levels of the book. David…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/t-this-point-i-would-like-to-return-to-the-question-of-the-plot/) [Ian Gregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) [Explore all 18 Ian Gregor quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. Krebs > [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) Markus Herz > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Nowhere is the sense of medium felt more strongly, even by the casual reader, than in a story about to end. For the novelist the problem is no longer how to tell his tale, but how to close it down; how to switch imaginative energies which have been used in sustaining the tale, into energies which will not just stop it, but will resolve it. The process of telling must be made to predicate its own conclusion. For the reader, in sight of an ending, the mode of attention shifts, the rhythm alters, and a pressure of significance begins to build up behind the closing chapters. The pace of the narrative begins to slow, the 'ever after' looms, past and present emerge in ever sharper juxtaposition. It is this heightened attention to the medium that characterises the ending and we are not surprised to find that for some novelists 'endings' seem to play false to the narrative which leads to them. 'Conclusions are the weak points of most authors', George Eliot wrote, 'but some of the fault must lie in the very nature of a conclusion which is at best a negation'.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ian Gregor" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/nowhere-is-the-sense-of-medium-felt-more-strongly-even-by-the-casual/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/nowhere-is-the-sense-of-medium-felt-more-strongly-even-by-the-casual/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/340/ian-gregor-29383_books_nowhere-is-the-sense-of-medium-felt-more_772550.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/340/ian-gregor-29383_books_nowhere-is-the-sense-of-medium-felt-more_772550.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/340/ian-gregor-29383_books_nowhere-is-the-sense-of-medium-felt-more_772550.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Nowhere is the sense of medium felt more strongly, even by the casual reader, than in a story about to end…” — Ian Gregor", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ian Gregor", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-gregor/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Nowhere is the sense of medium...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/nowhere-is-the-sense-of-medium-felt-more-strongly-even-by-the-casual/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-gregor/nowhere-is-the-sense-of-medium-felt-more-strongly-even-by-the-casual/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```