Sometimes it is necessary to
use several models in drawing the same character, one for this
characteristic, and another for that. But in writing the novelist
should have his eye on his model just as steadily and persistently as
the painter, for so alone can he catch the spirit and inner truth of
nature; and art. If it is anything, is the interpretation of nature.
The ideal character must be made the interpretation of the real one,
not a photographic copy, not idealization or glorification or
caricature, unless the idealization or glorification or caricature has
a definite value in the interpretation.
CHAPTER XV.
CONTRAST.
In all effective writing contrast is far more than a figure of speech:
it is an essential element in making strength. A work of literary art
without contrast may have all the elements of construction, style, and
originality of idea, but it will be weak, narrow, limp. The truth is,
contrast is the measure of the breadth of one's observation. We often
think of it as a figure of speech, a method of language which we use for
effect. A better view of it is as a measure of breadth.
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