“The subject-matter of fiction is stored up likewise in documents and records, and if it will not tie itself away, as they say in California, it must speak with assurance, with the tone of the historian.” (James 574)
James is saying stories come from experience and when writing a story, the reader must dig into those stored “documents” in order to have a self worthy story.
James, Henry. Henry James: Major Stories and Essays. New York: Penguin, 1984. Print.
“CYRIL. Well, you need not look at the landscape. You can lie on the grass and smoke and talk.”
A lesson comes from hearing and listening (or in this case reading) to a conversation! Cyril says look past everything, you can sit down and enjoy it, but make sure you look past structures to really understand what makes something. .. Does nature equal art?
The Decay of Lying. Oscar Wilde. The Victorian Web. Victorian Web, 21 April. 2008. Web. 8 Sept. 2013. ‹http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/wilde/decay.html>.