Raymond Queneau Historical Quotations

Fiction has consisted either of placing imaginary characters in a true story, which is the Iliad, or of presenting the story of an individual as having a general historical value, which is the Odyssey.

Many novelists take well-defined, precise characters, whose stories are sometimes of mediocre interest, and place them in an important historical context, which remains secondary in spite of everything.

All societies are historical.

We have gotten away from this double aspect of either putting the character back into historical events or of making a historical event of his very life.

The Odyssey is the story of Americans up to the point where they are well-established, and even so it is detached from the historical side.

We think of giving importance to history, but it is the individual who is interesting, and we want to give him a historical importance.