Excerpt from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Thirty or more years ago there appeared in public prints a debate, not unfriendly, between two pre-eminent writers; one the foremost English romanticist of his generation, the other a realist of unique distinction. The realist objected to romance on the ground that it was false; and, in effect, he said: "Your art isn't a true one. You get people to read your books by entertaining them with suspensive plot - a low sort of business for you to be in, anyhow - but, as if that weren't enough, you entertain them with what is incredible. That is to say, the 'characters' in your books have 'adventures': you most obviously make up both impossible dangers and impossible escapes for them. To crown all, you write stories of pirates!"

The romanticist inquired: "Well, why shouldn't I write stories of pirates?"

The realist replied: "Because to write of anything so unusual as a pirate is to represent what virtually doesn't exist. The novelist is to write of what exists and to try to reveal its meaning.

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