[The art of the novel] does not simply consist in the author's telling a story about the adventures of some other person. On the contrary, it happens… - Murasaki Shikibu

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[The art of the novel] does not simply consist in the author's telling a story about the adventures of some other person. On the contrary, it happens because the storyteller's own experience of men and things, whether for good or ill—not only what he has passed through himself, but even events which he has only witnessed or been told of—has moved him to an emotion so passionate that he can no longer keep it shut up in his heart.