"The novelist must look on humanity without partiality or prejudice. His sympathy, like that of the historian, must be unbounded, and untainted by sect or party"
About this Quote
Objectivity is the alibi, but it is also the ambition. When Goldwin Smith insists the novelist must regard humanity “without partiality or prejudice,” he’s doing more than offering a craft tip; he’s smuggling in a moral program for public life. A Victorian historian watching politics harden into parties and “sects” (religious, ideological, nationalist) wants the novel to function as a civic instrument: a training ground for attention, where readers practice seeing people whole rather than as representatives of a cause.
The clever move is the comparison to the historian. Smith isn’t merely flattering fiction by granting it seriousness; he’s tightening the leash on it. The novelist is invited into the archive of national meaning, then told to behave like an adjudicator. “Sympathy” becomes a disciplined faculty, not sentimental overflow: “unbounded” suggests capaciousness, but “untainted” implies contamination is always lurking. The subtext is anxiety about narrative as propaganda. If story is the most persuasive technology of its era, then the ethical novelist must resist becoming a party’s soft-power arm.
Still, the line carries its own blind spot. Claiming to be above sect or party is itself a position - often the position of the educated center, confident that its preferences are simply “humanity.” Smith’s ideal of impartial sympathy can elevate fiction into a secular moral authority, but it also risks laundering bias through the language of neutrality. The quote works because it captures a real tension: the novelist’s power comes from choosing, shaping, and judging - and yet we still want the result to feel like a clear-eyed encounter with life, not an audition for our allegiance.
The clever move is the comparison to the historian. Smith isn’t merely flattering fiction by granting it seriousness; he’s tightening the leash on it. The novelist is invited into the archive of national meaning, then told to behave like an adjudicator. “Sympathy” becomes a disciplined faculty, not sentimental overflow: “unbounded” suggests capaciousness, but “untainted” implies contamination is always lurking. The subtext is anxiety about narrative as propaganda. If story is the most persuasive technology of its era, then the ethical novelist must resist becoming a party’s soft-power arm.
Still, the line carries its own blind spot. Claiming to be above sect or party is itself a position - often the position of the educated center, confident that its preferences are simply “humanity.” Smith’s ideal of impartial sympathy can elevate fiction into a secular moral authority, but it also risks laundering bias through the language of neutrality. The quote works because it captures a real tension: the novelist’s power comes from choosing, shaping, and judging - and yet we still want the result to feel like a clear-eyed encounter with life, not an audition for our allegiance.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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