A novel should be seen as an act of divination, revealing deeper truths through intuition and insight rather than simply documenting surface details. It involves exploring hidden layers of meaning, much like reading entrails, to uncover what lies beneath the obvious surface. According to Lawrence Durrell in The Alexandria Quartet, a novel is not just a careful record or a predictable story like a game of pat-ball on a lawn. Instead, it is an inspired act of discovery that seeks to reveal the unseen and the mysterious through creative and intuitive exploration.

"A novel should be an act of divination by entrails, not a careful record of a game of pat-ball on some vicarage lawn!"