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About this quote

What does it mean?
A novel creates a structured, idealized space within the chaotic real world.
In plain terms
Novels make a perfect world inside the real one.
What can you take from it?
Stories offer order where reality is messy.

Where it applies

  • writing
  • reading
  • criticism

Putting it to work

  • write stories
  • read deeply
  • find order

Questions to consider

  • What order does your favorite book bring?
  • Do you seek ideals in stories?

Another view

Not all novels aim for ideals; some embrace chaos.

More from Jorge Luis Borges

  1. Years of solitude had taught him that, in one's memory, all days tend to be the same, but that there is not a day, not even in jail or in the hospital, which d…

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  2. The heresies we should fear are those which can be confused with orthodoxy.

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  3. Villari took no notice of them because the idea of a coincidence between art and reality was alien to him. Unlike people who read novels, he never saw himself …

    Permalink to quote #19

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