Imagination is a kind of freedom, a renewed ability to perceive and express truth, and this is to put forward another of these lofty and high-minded views of art. The artist must tell the truth about something which he has understood. This is perhaps the best piece of advice which one can give to the writer. This idea must somehow remain within the work of art however ingenious it is and be felt by the artist and perceived by the critic.
[Iris Murdoch, Existentialists and Mystics, Conradi, ed., Penguin (New York: 1997) p. 256.]
