Martial (the main character of LOCUS SOLUS) has a very interesting conception of literary beauty: the work must contain nothing real, no observations about the world or the mind, nothing but completely imaginary constructions. These are in themselves ideas from an extrahuman world.

Pierre Janet
About This Quote

This quote is probably not meant to be taken literally. Thomas Mann, the author of the quote, was referring to a specific type of literature that he did not particularly like. He was referring to the kind of literature that takes place in an imaginary world. This type of writing is what Mann referred to as “narrative fiction”.

The reason why Mann disliked this type of literature is because it tends to focus on unreal stories and concepts. For example, in this quote he is talking about the story being too vague and not focused on an actual person or personas. He was also referring to the idea that this type of writing does not contain any true life experiences or observations from an actual person or persons.

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  1. Martial (the main character of LOCUS SOLUS) has a very interesting conception of literary beauty: the work must contain nothing real, no observations about the world or the mind, nothing but completely imaginary constructions. These are in themselves ideas from an extrahuman world.
  2. Traumas produce their disintegrating effects in proportion to their intensity, duration and repetition. (1909)
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