Time & Perspective Quote by Arthur Herzog

Omniscience is a power fantasy with craft consequences, and Herzog names it with the blunt certainty of a working novelist. “The universal narrator” isn’t just a camera with a wide lens; it’s a godlike presence that can trespass anywhere, anytime. That “can enter a character’s head” is an invitation and a warning: the tool promises total access, but it also tempts the writer into cheating.

The intent here feels practical, almost shop-talk. Herzog is sketching the rules of engagement for third-person omniscient: the narrator can reveal private motives, contradict a character’s self-image, or jump across a scene to expose what no single person could know. That’s the obvious part. The subtext is about discipline. “Any time he chooses” implies choice as an ethical and aesthetic act. If you barge into everyone’s thoughts whenever the plot gets sticky, you flatten mystery, erase tension, and make characters feel like puppets whose strings are always visible.

Contextually, this line sits in the long 20th-century tug-of-war between omniscient narration and the prestige of limited perspective. Modern fiction often treats interiority like an earned intimacy; Herzog reminds you it’s also a structural decision. Omniscience can create irony (we know what characters don’t), grandeur (a social world mapped from above), or biting comedy (self-justifications punctured in real time). It works best when the narrator’s all-knowingness isn’t just access, but attitude: a governing intelligence with restraint, rhythm, and a reason to look where it looks.