I think that Nabokov quote might be sarcastic.
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The real problem is that the modern novel is not didactic enough. Who was the last major didactic novelist? Ayn Rand?
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Are you really bringing out ayn rand as a novelist writers should emulate
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The novelist's only obligation is to write stuff enough people want to read that it is worth someone's while -- possibly their own -- to publish it. The end.
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Didacticism is fine, as long as it's good writing. One of the great challenges of authorship is to say something people don't want to hear, but can't help but listen to. If you can make an interesting story about the wrongness of something—say, prejudice—go at it.
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There are many wonderful anti-war novels (and films).
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but in the quote Moshfegh says the novel's job is "to expand consciousness." That is: social engagement.
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The notion that there is a single, or even a small but limited number of "purposes" for a novel is utter BS. There are novels that are purely didactic, pure story, pure character, pure language, etc., etc. And there are examples of each that are excellent. Most combine the above.
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In the mid-90s Richard Rorty wrote a great qualified defense of middlebrow politically engaged novels. (At least, I admired it at the time.) It may have been this, but I can't get past the paywall so I'm not sure. https://bit.ly/3z6UgKF
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