When I really think that a literary novel is successful, I am conscious of being in the novel and outside it all at once.

When I really think that a literary novel is successful, I am conscious of being in the novel and outside it all at once. I begin to question how the writer set up the structure or armature of repeating themes, that allows the emotion to hang on, or be contained by. I feel the same about painting. The structure of a painting is a way into the experience, and acts as an armature for the intuitive and random prompting of the mind.