Henry James on the Novelist's Responsibility

Henry James on the novelist's responsibility:

The execution belongs to the author alone; it is what is most personal to him, and we measure him by that. The advantage, the luxury, as well as the torment and responsibility of the novelist, is that there is no limit to what he may attempt as an executant—no limit to his possible experiments, efforts, discoveries, successes.

From Henry James, “The Art of Fiction” (1884).