49"Imaginative works such as novels, plays, films, fairy tales, and legends present a more accurate and meaningful picture of human experience than do factual accounts. Because the creators of fiction shape and focus reality rather than report on it literally, their creations have a more lasting significance."
PS: 无论是想象作品还是真实写作都来源于人类的经历,但他们是否能present a accurate and meaningful picture of that experience是不能判断的,因为写作的过程中总难免加入作者的主观判断,而文学作品的意义不只在于是否shape and focus reality or report it literally,因而它的价值也不该如此判断。
RL:
想象作品是对作者通过文学手段对现实的某种写照、暗示或揭露reflection, implication or revelation,确实sketch a meaningful picture of human experience. {social experience: Dickens;mental experience: Virginia Woolf; James Joyce; future picture: George Orwell-1984 }
同样,写实作品因为是作者根据大量史料historical material or data和报道report写成的,往往能够帮助读者更好的了解真实的历史和人类经历。{biography; news report;}
但是,如果要判断两者谁更能精确地描述了这些经历,无法比较。因为:(1)作者在写作时难免加入自己的主观判断,imaginative works尤为如此 (2)随着时间的过去,很多历史本身就很模糊了,文学作品难以描述{the historical events of ancient Greek and Rome; 特洛伊战争Trojan War }
文学作品的意义/持久意义不只在于是否shape and focus reality or report it literally,因而它的价值也不该如此判断:作品本身是否深刻揭示了社会和人性复杂,艺术手法的突破和创新,艺术美感,读者的精神享受等。这些标准无论在想象作品还是写实作品中都适用。