Anthony Powell Quote

People think because a novel's invented, it isn't true. Exactly the reverse is the case. Because a novel's invented, it is true. Biography and memoirs can never be wholly true, since they can't include every conceivable circumstance of what happened. The novel can do that. The novelist himself lays it down. His decision is binding.

Hearing Secret Harmonies (1975), ch. 3. - A Dance to the Music of Time (1951-1975)