Hi! i need help in knowing what does the quote means?

Question

"It is not what an author says, but what he or she whispers, that is important."

-Logan Pearsall Smith

Answer 1

I interpreted it as, the author doesn't HAVE to give you all the answers - you have to look at the work and work some of it out yourself, through looking at the small detail. Mainly, that even the smallest detail in a book/play/poem etc can say so much, perhaps even more than the obvious things in the piece of art.

Answer 2

The first answer is the best.  I might add a quote from a playwright; "I did not realise I had said so much until after the reviews came out".

Answer 3

its is not important what the author has written its is reading between the lines...

its not what is evident...but what he is tryin to convey secretly...

Answer 4

an author says things subtly. it is for the reader to interpret the finer points. it is about reading between the lines.

Answer 5

It could mean what the popular answer seems to mean, that it is necessary to read between the lines.

But as a writer, I also think it is a word of advice to authors themselves; couldn't the quote be interpreted as saying that it is more important to describe events than to simply state what happened? Writers are constantly told how much more effective the former is.

"The ballerina danced beautifully" is much less evocative than "As light as the flower petal she portrayed, she gracefully flitted across the stage; elegance spoke in her every movement, from the subtle position of her fingers to the line of her pointed foot", for example. I never mentioned "ballerina" or "dance" or "beautiful", but the second conveys much more than the first.

I took it be emphasizing the importance of details over the statement of actions.