There is a popular superstition that “realism” asserts itself in…

There is a popular superstition that “realism” asserts itself in the cataloguing of a great number of material objects, in explaining mechanical processes, the methods of operating manufactories and trades, and in minutely and unsparingly describing physical sensations. But is not realism, more than it is anything else, an attitude of mind on the part of the writer toward his material, a vague indication of the sympathy and candour with which he accepts, rather than chooses, his theme?

Sourced, Not Under Forty (1936)

The Novel Démeublé

Other Willa Cather Quotes

Give the people a new word and they think they have a new fact. - View Quote Details on Give the people a new word and they think they…
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The great fact was the land itself, which seemed to overwhelm the little beginnings of human society that struggled in its sombre wastes. It was from facing this vast hardness that the boy’s mouth had become so bitter; because he felt that men were too weak to make any mark here, that the land wanted to be let alone, to preserve its own fierce strength, its peculiar, savage kind of beauty, its uninterrupted mournfulness. - View Quote Details on The great fact was the land itself, which seemed to…
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