Literary Birthday – 16 July – Frances Spalding
Happy Birthday, Frances Spalding, born 16 July 1950.
Quote
‘As a writer, I believe you have a responsibility towards your subject, but this responsibility is not that of a historian or biographer. Fiction’s strength is its ability to make people see, hear, feel, taste, smell its subject: as I have suggested, this process frequently involves deviations from or embellishments of any underlying facts. Though I often asked myself: ‘would the real-life Vanessa or Virginia have said or done this’ as I worked, my overriding impetus was whether what my characters said or did felt right within the context of my narrative. Every work of art must have its own integrity: I think you have to be true to the book you are writing.’
Frances Spalding is a British art historian and writer. She is the author of Virginia Woolf: Art, Life and Vision.
Source for image: Frances Spalding, Photo by Simon Hobson
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