--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The only excuse for a novelist, aside…" description: "\"The only excuse for a novelist, aside from the entertainment and vicarious living his books give the people who read them, is as a sort of second-class..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c1/john-dos-passos-3598_able_the-only-excuse-for-a-novelist-aside-fro_975105.jpg" --- # The only excuse for a novelist, aside from the… ![“The only excuse for a novelist, aside from the entertainment and vicarious living his books give the people who read them, is as a sort of second-class historian of the age he lives in. The "reality" he missed by writing about imaginary people, he gains by being able to build a reality more nearly…” quote by John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c1/john-dos-passos-3598_able_the-only-excuse-for-a-novelist-aside-fro_975105.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c1/john-dos-passos-3598_able_the-only-excuse-for-a-novelist-aside-fro_975105.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c1/john-dos-passos-3598_able_the-only-excuse-for-a-novelist-aside-fro_975105.jpg) > “The only excuse for a novelist, aside from the entertainment and vicarious living his books give the people who read them, is as a sort of second-class historian of the age he lives in. The "reality" he missed by writing about imaginary people, he gains by being able to build a reality more nearly out of his own factual experience than a plain historian or biographer can.” [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Novels can serve as a form of secondary historiography, blending personal experience with imaginative storytelling to capture an era’s truth. **In simple terms:** Stories can record history in a personal way. Key Takeaway Use fiction to explore truths beyond factual accounts. Themes history fiction perspective culture memory Mood reflective analytical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - Writing novels - teaching literature - documenting social change - personal memoirs - creative journalism Key Concepts Narrative truth subjective historiography cultural reflection Questions to Reflect On - How does imagination enhance or hinder historical understanding? - What responsibilities do novelists have to factual accuracy? A Different Perspective Fiction may distort facts, leading to misinterpretation of actual events. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Age](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/age/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Class](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class/) [Entertainment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/entertainment/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Novelist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novelist/) [Novelists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novelists/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [In fiction, imaginary people become realer to us than any named celebrity glimpsed in a series of rumored events, whose causes and subtler ramifications…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/in-fiction-imaginary-people-become-realer-to-us-than-any-named/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [“We have all been fooled into believing in people who are entirely imaginary--made-up prisoners in a hypothetical panopticon. But the point isn't whether or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robyn-schneider/we-have-all-been-fooled-into-believing-in-people-who-are-entirely-2/) [Robyn Schneider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robyn-schneider/) > [As we grow older we become more conscious of the complexity, incoherence, and unreasonableness of human beings; this indeed is the only excuse that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/as-we-grow-older-we-become-more-conscious-of-the-complexity/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [The world consists of imaginary people, claiming imaginary virtues and suffering from imaginary happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernon-howard/the-world-consists-of-imaginary-people-claiming-imaginary-virtues-and/) [Vernon Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernon-howard/) > [“But I know now that isn’t true; history is filled with fictional people. And even the epigraph Fitzgerald placed at the beginning of The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robyn-schneider/but-i-know-now-that-isn-t-true-history-is-filled-with-fictional/) [Robyn Schneider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robyn-schneider/) > [“Literature is the real life of imaginary people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stefanos-livos/literature-is-the-real-life-of-imaginary-people/) [Stefanos Livos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stefanos-livos/) > [For any artistic person who creates imaginary people, the art is like inhabiting the life and mind of a seven-year-old child with imaginary friends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-shacochis/for-any-artistic-person-who-creates-imaginary-people-the-art-is-like/) [Bob Shacochis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-shacochis/) > [“...history is filled with fictional people. We have all been fooled into believing in people who are entirely imaginary - made-up prisoners in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robyn-schneider/history-is-filled-with-fictional-people-we-have-all-been-fooled-into/) [Robyn Schneider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robyn-schneider/) > [Writers spend too much time among dead things. I thought that was profound and actually true, that you're trying to pump life into something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/writers-spend-too-much-time-among-dead-things-i-thought-that-was/) [Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/) > [As a friend of mine, herself a writer, says, 'People who spend the most meaningful hours of their lives in the exclusive company of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-block/as-a-friend-of-mine-herself-a-writer-says-people-who-spend-the-most/) [Lawrence Block](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-block/) > [“We have all been fooled into believing in people who are entirely imaginary--made-up prisoners in a hypothetical panopticon. But the point isn't whether or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robyn-schneider/we-have-all-been-fooled-into-believing-in-people-who-are-entirely/) [Robyn Schneider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robyn-schneider/) > [“I liked the imaginary people on the entertainment feed way more than I liked real ones, but you can’t have one without the other.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-wells/i-liked-the-imaginary-people-on-the-entertainment-feed-way-more-than/) [Martha Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-wells/) > [It would have been impossible for me to have told anyone what I derived from these novels, for it was nothing less than a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/it-would-have-been-impossible-for-me-to-have-told-anyone-what-i/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [“Pleasure of tragedy is vicarious suicide”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/pleasure-of-tragedy-is-vicarious-suicide/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [A love that left people alone in their guilt would not have real people as its object. So, in vicarious responsibility for people, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/a-love-that-left-people-alone-in-their-guilt-would-not-have-real/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) ## More by John Dos Passos > [In certain savage tribes in New Guinea, they put the old people up in the trees and shake them once a year in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/in-certain-savage-tribes-in-new-guinea-they-put-the-old-people-up-in/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [In a moment when criticism shows a singular dearth of direction every man has to be a law unto himself in matters of theatre,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/in-a-moment-when-criticism-shows-a-singular-dearth-of-direction-every/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [It's rather grisly, isnt it, how soon a living man becomes nothing more than a collection of stocks and bonds and debts and real…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/it-s-rather-grisly-isnt-it-how-soon-a-living-man-becomes-nothing-more/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [The people of this country are too tolerant. There's no other country in the world where they'd allow it... After all we built up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/the-people-of-this-country-are-too-tolerant-there-s-no-other-country/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [I never see the dawn that I don't say to myself perhaps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/i-never-see-the-dawn-that-i-don-t-say-to-myself-perhaps/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [When the typewriter stops in a New York office everybody's embarrassed; men start to quarrel or to make love to the stenographer or drop…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/when-the-typewriter-stops-in-a-new-york-office-everybody-s/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [What's the use, there never was a woman living who could understand political ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/what-s-the-use-there-never-was-a-woman-living-who-could-understand/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [There is a part of me in every character, naturally. That's why novelists rarely write good autobiographies. You start one and it becomes another…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/there-is-a-part-of-me-in-every-character-naturally-that-s-why/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [The fascinating thing to a dispassionate observer about the structure of life in the Soviet Union is that in their efforts to produce an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/the-fascinating-thing-to-a-dispassionate-observer-about-the-structure/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [To fight oppression, and to work as best we can for a sane organization of society, we do not have to abandon the state…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/to-fight-oppression-and-to-work-as-best-we-can-for-a-sane/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [A satirist is a man whose flesh creeps so at the ugly and the savage and the incongruous aspects of society that he has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/a-satirist-is-a-man-whose-flesh-creeps-so-at-the-ugly-and-the-savage/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [Letters are largely written to get things out of your system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/letters-are-largely-written-to-get-things-out-of-your-system/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [The Enormous Room seems to me to be the book that has nearest approached the mood of reckless adventure in which men will reach…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/the-enormous-room-seems-to-me-to-be-the-book-that-has-nearest/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [“ Luther Burbank was born in a brick farmhouse in Lancaster Mass, he walked through the woods one winter crunching through the shinycrusted snow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/luther-burbank-was-born-in-a-brick-farmhouse-in-lancaster-mass-he/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [It is a most curious experience for a man of seventy-two to be confronted with the greenhorn enthusiasms of his youth. Young people think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/it-is-a-most-curious-experience-for-a-man-of-seventy-two-to-be/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) [Explore all 125 John Dos Passos quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) ## More Able quotes > [I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lusseyran/i-am-certain-that-children-always-know-more-than-they-are-able-to/) [Jacques Lusseyran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lusseyran/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. If you don't accept it and you're having a conversation with someone who does,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-englert/there-is-something-about-the-south-that-accepts-the-supernatural-if/) [Alice Englert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-englert/) > [In the '80s, the way radio was programmed, if you didn't have a hit record you weren't going to be able to make any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huey-lewis/in-the-80s-the-way-radio-was-programmed-if-you-didn-t-have-a-hit/) [Huey Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huey-lewis/) > [I think I've had the longest career of strength, focus, and still being able to sell records. I think I'm that guy. I'm still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nas/i-think-i-ve-had-the-longest-career-of-strength-focus-and-still-being/) [Nas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nas/) > [I have that need in me, I want everyone to love me, but I'm embarrassed by that need, so I wanted to cover it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-jeselnik/i-have-that-need-in-me-i-want-everyone-to-love-me-but-i-m-embarrassed/) [Anthony Jeselnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-jeselnik/) > [Thinking about the things that happened, I don't know any other ball player would could have done what he (Jackie Robinson) did. To be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pee-wee-reese/thinking-about-the-things-that-happened-i-don-t-know-any-other-ball/) [Pee Wee Reese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pee-wee-reese/) > [I wanted to remember in order to be able to return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/i-wanted-to-remember-in-order-to-be-able-to-return/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [Government schools, with your tax money, now discourage the teaching of multiplication tables by rote memorization but teach reading by the 'look-and-say' method which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-perry/government-schools-with-your-tax-money-now-discourage-the-teaching-of/) Greg Perry > [I don't know if I would qualify as mainstream. I think I have managed to function pretty successfully on the fringes of the music…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-metheny/i-don-t-know-if-i-would-qualify-as-mainstream-i-think-i-have-managed/) [Pat Metheny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-metheny/) > [What we're supposed to do as actors is be able to portray real human beings and emotions. And if you grow up in this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-browning/what-we-re-supposed-to-do-as-actors-is-be-able-to-portray-real-human/) [Emily Browning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-browning/) > [The reason that Apple is able to create products like iPad is because we always try to be at the intersection of technology and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-jobs/the-reason-that-apple-is-able-to-create-products-like-ipad-is-because/) [Steve Jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-jobs/) > [It was an important period for us, because even though we weren't a "punk band", and what became a model for a punk band,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-mallinder/it-was-an-important-period-for-us-because-even-though-we-weren-t-a/) [Stephen Mallinder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-mallinder/) > [- You look fine. - Right. I look fine. Except I don't, said Zora, tugging sadly at her man's nightshirt. This was why Kiki…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zadie-smith/you-look-fine-right-i-look-fine-except-i-don-t-said-zora-tugging/) [Zadie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zadie-smith/) > [There is a way to be a woman, ask for what we deserve and be able to negotiate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracee-ellis-ross/there-is-a-way-to-be-a-woman-ask-for-what-we-deserve-and-be-able-to/) [Tracee Ellis Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracee-ellis-ross/) Browse all 17,257 Able quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The only excuse for a novelist, aside from the entertainment and vicarious living his books give the people who read them, is as a sort of second-class historian of the age he lives in. The \"reality\" he missed by writing about imaginary people, he gains by being able to build a reality more nearly out of his own factual experience than a plain historian or biographer can.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Dos Passos" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/the-only-excuse-for-a-novelist-aside-from-the-entertainment-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Able" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/the-only-excuse-for-a-novelist-aside-from-the-entertainment-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c1/john-dos-passos-3598_able_the-only-excuse-for-a-novelist-aside-fro_975105.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c1/john-dos-passos-3598_able_the-only-excuse-for-a-novelist-aside-fro_975105.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c1/john-dos-passos-3598_able_the-only-excuse-for-a-novelist-aside-fro_975105.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The only excuse for a novelist, aside from the entertainment and vicarious living his books give the people…” — John Dos Passos", "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": "John Dos Passos", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The only excuse for a novelist,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/the-only-excuse-for-a-novelist-aside-from-the-entertainment-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/the-only-excuse-for-a-novelist-aside-from-the-entertainment-and/#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 } } ] } ```