--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: fiction is both artifice and…" description: "\"“fiction is both artifice and verisimilitude, and that there is nothing difficult in holding together these two possibilities.”\" — James Wood" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d3e/james-wood-31847_quote_fiction-is-both-artifice-and-verisimilit_1295624.jpg" --- # fiction is both artifice and verisimilitude, and that… ![“fiction is both artifice and verisimilitude, and that there is nothing difficult in holding together these two possibilities.” quote by James Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d3e/james-wood-31847_quote_fiction-is-both-artifice-and-verisimilit_1295624.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d3e/james-wood-31847_quote_fiction-is-both-artifice-and-verisimilit_1295624.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d3e/james-wood-31847_quote_fiction-is-both-artifice-and-verisimilit_1295624.jpg) > ““fiction is both artifice and verisimilitude, and that there is nothing difficult in holding together these two possibilities.”” [James Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-wood/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Fiction blends crafted artifice with realistic detail, making stories believable yet imaginative. **In simple terms:** Stories mix imagination with realism. Key Takeaway Balance creativity with authenticity. Themes fiction artifice realism Mood analytical thoughtful Type critical literary When to use this quote - writing - teaching literature - story analysis Key Concepts narrative theory literary criticism Questions to Reflect On - How do you keep realism in fantasy? - What makes a fictional world feel real? A Different Perspective Too much artifice can break immersion. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Artifice Verisimilitude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artifice-verisimilitude-4236268/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Fiction Artifice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction-artifice-4236269/) [Verisimilitude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/verisimilitude-443202/) [Verisimilitude Difficult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/verisimilitude-difficult-4236270/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [“I was immensely moved by this novel when I read it recently and yet I cannot think of anything to say about it except…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/i-was-immensely-moved-by-this-novel-when-i-read-it-recently-and-yet-i/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [“Verisimilitude is not my ambition. Everything I do is façade.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-ipri/verisimilitude-is-not-my-ambition-everything-i-do-is-fa-ade/) [Tom Ipri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-ipri/) > [We love bringing verisimilitude to audiences, hopefully having experiences you'll never have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-derrickson/we-love-bringing-verisimilitude-to-audiences-hopefully-having/) [Scott Derrickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-derrickson/) > [“This is another to be added to the many proofs that verisimilitude is not in the least an essential element of verity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geroge-macdonald/this-is-another-to-be-added-to-the-many-proofs-that-verisimilitude-is/) [Geroge MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geroge-macdonald/) > [“ask these questions not to dispute the tone Jameson attributes to these postmodern artifacts—the exhilaration he is speaking of is clearly of the capitalist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sianne-ngai/ask-these-questions-not-to-dispute-the-tone-jameson-attributes-to/) [Sianne Ngai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sianne-ngai/) > [I am not concerned with verisimilitude... I am not concerned with capturing reality. I am concerned with creating it myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracey-moffatt/i-am-not-concerned-with-verisimilitude-i-am-not-concerned-with/) [Tracey Moffatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracey-moffatt/) > [VERISIMILITUDE (the appearance or semblance of truth)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-donner/verisimilitude-the-appearance-or-semblance-of-truth/) [Richard Donner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-donner/) > [Novels must have verisimilitude, and truth has little enough of that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-auchincloss/novels-must-have-verisimilitude-and-truth-has-little-enough-of-that/) [Louis Auchincloss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-auchincloss/) > [“Writers reduce what they write, and readers reduce what they read. The brain itself is made to reduce, replace, emblemize... 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I am looking for surface detail that makes something seem real.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-smith/verisimilitude-is-something-i-am-constantly-seeking-in-fiction-i-am/) [Russell Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-smith/) > [Writing is not describing, painting is not depicting. Verisimilitude is merely an illusion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-braque/writing-is-not-describing-painting-is-not-depicting-verisimilitude-is/) [Georges Braque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-braque/) > [“The fiction will seek the real.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coheed-and-cambria/the-fiction-will-seek-the-real/) [Coheed and Cambria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/coheed-and-cambria/) > [Fiction is a way of exploring possibilities present but undreamt of in the living of a single life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadine-gordimer/fiction-is-a-way-of-exploring-possibilities-present-but-undreamt-of/) [Nadine Gordimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadine-gordimer/) ## More by James Wood > [“There is this strangeness of a life story having no shape—or more accurately, nothing but its present—until it has its ending; and then suddenly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-wood/there-is-this-strangeness-of-a-life-story-having-no-shape-or-more/) [James Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-wood/) > [“Everything has always been permitted, even when God was around. 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