--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I feel the responsibility of the novelist…" description: "\"I feel the responsibility of the novelist is to create a very complex world populated by very complex individuals and to deepen that as much as possibl..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/850/pankaj-mishra-2875_complexes_i-feel-the-responsibility-of-the-novelis_1434169.jpg" --- # I feel the responsibility of the novelist is to create a… ![“I feel the responsibility of the novelist is to create a very complex world populated by very complex individuals and to deepen that as much as possible. I don't think the responsibility of the reporter or journalist is fundamentally different.” quote by Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/850/pankaj-mishra-2875_complexes_i-feel-the-responsibility-of-the-novelis_1434169.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/850/pankaj-mishra-2875_complexes_i-feel-the-responsibility-of-the-novelis_1434169.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/850/pankaj-mishra-2875_complexes_i-feel-the-responsibility-of-the-novelis_1434169.jpg) > “I feel the responsibility of the novelist is to create a very complex world populated by very complex individuals and to deepen that as much as possible. I don't think the responsibility of the reporter or journalist is fundamentally different.” [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The novelist and journalist share a duty to craft intricate, realistic worlds and characters, exploring depth and nuance in storytelling. **In simple terms:** Writers must build detailed, believable worlds and people. Key Takeaway Prioritize depth and complexity in your narratives. Themes storytelling complexity responsibility Mood thoughtful analytical Type literary journalistic When to use this quote - fiction writing - investigative reporting - documentary filmmaking - historical analysis Key Concepts character development worldbuilding journalism Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance complexity with accessibility? - What techniques ensure characters feel authentic? A Different Perspective Depth can overwhelm audiences if not balanced with clarity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Complexes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexes/) [Different](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/different/) [Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) [Journalist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/journalist/) [Novelist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novelist/) [Novelist Create](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novelist-create-3769589/) [Novelists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novelists/) [Reporters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reporters/) [Responsibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/responsibility/) [Responsibility Novelist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/responsibility-novelist-2443387/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [I think the hardest part of writing is revising. And by that I mean the following: A novelist has to create the piece of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chaim-potok/i-think-the-hardest-part-of-writing-is-revising-and-by-that-i-mean/) [Chaim Potok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chaim-potok/) > [The advantage, the luxury, as well as the torment and responsibility of the novelist, is that there is no limit to what he may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-james/the-advantage-the-luxury-as-well-as-the-torment-and-responsibility-of/) [Henry James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-james/) > [I am worrying about my country. I feel I have a responsibility as a novelist to do something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/i-am-worrying-about-my-country-i-feel-i-have-a-responsibility-as-a/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [As a novelist, your impulse is toward multiplicity: multiple voices, multiple perceptions, multiple nuances, the ambiguity in human communication. Fiction really is the ultimate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/as-a-novelist-your-impulse-is-toward-multiplicity-multiple-voices/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [The bad novelist constructs his characters; he directs them and makes them speak. The true novelist listens to them and watches them act; he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-gide/the-bad-novelist-constructs-his-characters-he-directs-them-and-makes/) [Andre Gide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-gide/) > [That balance between involvement and detachment is what novelists do. It's the ideal relationship between a novelist and a character, I think, total involvement…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-barker/that-balance-between-involvement-and-detachment-is-what-novelists-do/) [Pat Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-barker/) > [The fact is that in this day and age I don't think any novelist can assume that a book will get attention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/curtis-sittenfeld/the-fact-is-that-in-this-day-and-age-i-don-t-think-any-novelist-can/) [Curtis Sittenfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/curtis-sittenfeld/) > [Whether he be an original or a plagiarist, man is the novelist of himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-ortega-y-gasset/whether-he-be-an-original-or-a-plagiarist-man-is-the-novelist-of/) [Jose Ortega y Gasset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-ortega-y-gasset/) > [A novelist should make you realize nothing is stable. If you don't believe anything with robustness, you're doing something more radical than anything else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/a-novelist-should-make-you-realize-nothing-is-stable-if-you-don-t/) [Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/) > [As an historical novelist – there are few jobs more retrospective.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-sheridan/as-an-historical-novelist-there-are-few-jobs-more-retrospective/) [Sara Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-sheridan/) > [And that singular anomaly, the lady novelist-- I don't think she'd be missed--I'm sure she'd not be missed!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-gilbert/and-that-singular-anomaly-the-lady-novelist-i-don-t-think-she-d-be/) [W. S. Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-gilbert/) > [Playing with different genres and perspectives and ways of telling stories is one of the perks of being a novelist, but at the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linn-ullmann/playing-with-different-genres-and-perspectives-and-ways-of-telling/) [Linn Ullmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linn-ullmann/) > [I am not an academic who happens to have written a novel. I am a novelist who happens to be quite good academically.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-s-byatt-2/i-am-not-an-academic-who-happens-to-have-written-a-novel-i-am-a/) [A. S. Byatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-s-byatt-2/) > [I'm a novelist. Fortunately I don't have to rule the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-m-a-novelist-fortunately-i-don-t-have-to-rule-the-world/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [“She'll be an excellent novelist: a monster of self-absorption.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lan-samantha-chang/she-ll-be-an-excellent-novelist-a-monster-of-self-absorption/) [Lan Samantha Chang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lan-samantha-chang/) ## More by Pankaj Mishra > [“Nationalism has again become a seductive but treacherous antidote to an experience of disorder and meaninglessness: the unexpectedly rowdy anticlimax, in a densely populated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/nationalism-has-again-become-a-seductive-but-treacherous-antidote-to/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [I feel very privileged to get to read and write and not to have to do things that I don't like, and I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/i-feel-very-privileged-to-get-to-read-and-write-and-not-to-have-to-do/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [There was great political uncertainty in South Asia at the time of the Buddha. The older small tribal societies were cracking up and gave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/there-was-great-political-uncertainty-in-south-asia-at-the-time-of/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [Buddhism resonated very powerfully with a lot of my preoccupations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/buddhism-resonated-very-powerfully-with-a-lot-of-my-preoccupations/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [Our tolerance of the intolerable found a low threshold as early as the late 1950s with the grotesque excesses of McCarthyism, which destroyed so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/our-tolerance-of-the-intolerable-found-a-low-threshold-as-early-as/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [Freedom of speech doesn't guarantee great literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/freedom-of-speech-doesn-t-guarantee-great-literature/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [“As Keynes wrote, with devastating understatement, ‘The age of economic internationalism was not particularly successful in avoiding war.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/as-keynes-wrote-with-devastating-understatement-the-age-of-economic/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [“Voltaire was soon turned, with Catherine’s encouragement, into a patron saint for the secular Russian aristocracy. Voltairianism, vaguely signifying rationalism, scepticism and reformism, became…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/voltaire-was-soon-turned-with-catherine-s-encouragement-into-a-patron/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [“Today, the belief in progress, necessary for life in a Godless universe, can no longer be sustained, except, perhaps, in the Silicon Valley mansions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/today-the-belief-in-progress-necessary-for-life-in-a-godless-universe/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [We are always boosting or trying to prop up the ego by fulfilling some desire or other, and always craving affirmation from the outside.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/we-are-always-boosting-or-trying-to-prop-up-the-ego-by-fulfilling/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [I don't think of myself as particularly earnest. I have long bouts of cynicism and skepticism. So much of my early life was full…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/i-don-t-think-of-myself-as-particularly-earnest-i-have-long-bouts-of/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [“Marx reproduced medieval and Reformation millenarian expectations in his utopia of a classless, stateless society.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/marx-reproduced-medieval-and-reformation-millenarian-expectations-in/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [“History, largely experienced previously as a series of natural disasters, could now be seen as a movement in which everyone could potentially enlist.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/history-largely-experienced-previously-as-a-series-of-natural/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [Writers in the nineteenth century - people like George Eliot and Flaubert - were accustomed to addressing particular communities with which they shared not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/writers-in-the-nineteenth-century-people-like-george-eliot-and/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [Most suffering is human-made and avoidable. It's mostly in your head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/most-suffering-is-human-made-and-avoidable-it-s-mostly-in-your-head/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) [Explore all 147 Pankaj Mishra quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) ## More Complexes quotes > [Being an artist is a totally godlike thing to do - and I have a god complex.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-anderson/being-an-artist-is-a-totally-godlike-thing-to-do-and-i-have-a-god/) [Laurie Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-anderson/) > [UN peacekeeping operations are now increasingly complex and multi-dimensional, going beyond monitoring a ceasefire to actually bringing failed States back to life, often after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kofi-annan/un-peacekeeping-operations-are-now-increasingly-complex-and-multi/) [Kofi Annan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kofi-annan/) > [For many of us, work is the one place where we feel appreciated. The things that we long to experience at home - pride…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arlie-russell-hochschild/for-many-of-us-work-is-the-one-place-where-we-feel-appreciated-the/) [Arlie Russell Hochschild](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arlie-russell-hochschild/) > [People are messy and complex, particularly in the homosexual world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milo-yiannopoulos/people-are-messy-and-complex-particularly-in-the-homosexual-world/) [Milo Yiannopoulos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milo-yiannopoulos/) > [At the risk of some oversimplification, if the skill composition of our work force meshed fully with the needs of our increasingly complex capital-stock,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-greenspan/at-the-risk-of-some-oversimplification-if-the-skill-composition-of/) [Alan Greenspan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-greenspan/) > [There's a whole journalistic-industrial complex dedicated to keeping newsprint, TV screens and radio waves clean of destabilizing scoops damaging to corporations or the state.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-cockburn/there-s-a-whole-journalistic-industrial-complex-dedicated-to-keeping/) [Alexander Cockburn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-cockburn/) > [The ascent of any route begins, in dreams at least, the autumn before. Our minds ring, involuntarily, with the alluring names of mountains, aiguilles,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-rebuffat/the-ascent-of-any-route-begins-in-dreams-at-least-the-autumn-before/) [Gaston Rebuffat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-rebuffat/) > [Through learning we grow, becoming more than we were before, and in that sense learning is unselfish, because it results in the transformation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/through-learning-we-grow-becoming-more-than-we-were-before-and-in/) [Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/) > [Significantly, God in Genesis 1 pronounces the rest of creation "good" before humanity is created. The psalmist and the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rodney-clapp/significantly-god-in-genesis-1-pronounces-the-rest-of-creation-good/) [Rodney Clapp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rodney-clapp/) > [Naval dominance of European waters was the largest, longest, most complex and expensive project ever undertaken by the British state and society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-rodger/naval-dominance-of-european-waters-was-the-largest-longest-most/) [Nicholas Rodger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-rodger/) > [When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-jobs/when-you-first-start-off-trying-to-solve-a-problem-the-first/) [Steve Jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-jobs/) > [“The act of consciousness is central; otherwise we are overrun by the complexes. 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This is not appealing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/the-only-way-to-stave-off-boredom-in-a-complex-domesticated-primate/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [As the number of unexplained, irreducibly complex biological systems increases, our confidence that Darwin's criterion of failure has been met skyrockets toward the maximum…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-behe/as-the-number-of-unexplained-irreducibly-complex-biological-systems/) [Michael Behe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-behe/) > [We knew the Syrian situation was complex and there were lots of divisions, particularly on the side of the opposition... This is a tough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kofi-annan/we-knew-the-syrian-situation-was-complex-and-there-were-lots-of/) [Kofi Annan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kofi-annan/) [Browse all 1,635 Complexes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexes/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I feel the responsibility of the novelist is to create a very complex world populated by very complex individuals and to deepen that as much as possible. 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