"Therefore, if I should certainly say to a novice, 'Write from experience and experience only,' I should feel that this was rather a tantalising monition if I were not careful immediately to add, 'Try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost!"
from "The Art of Fiction" by Henry James
3 comments:
what a great aspiration, to have nothing lost on oneself....certainly something to try to attain.
Interesting statement, I had to think about it for a while. To me it mean’s one who never thinks that he/she had lost anything but had gained through life experience, knowledge, being loved and loving someone. But if we don’t feel we have lost then how can we appreciate it? Or does this statement mean to record all your thoughts so the memory is not lost?
I should have provided the context for this quotation! :) Henry James said this in his essay, "The Art of Fiction." It is a bit of advice for writers, or any type of artist, explaining that we must observe everything both to be inspired to work at our art and to depict accurate portrayals of life in our art.
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