A copper crucible on three legs holds a glowing glass sphere beneath curling purple smoke, with dark stones beside it.

Original artwork, not a still

Requiem for a Nun · 1951

William Faulkner

So vast, so limitless in capacity is man’s imagination to disperse and burn away the rubble-dross of fact and probability, leaving only truth and dream.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

This praises imagination as so powerful it can burn away the messy leftovers of facts and likelihood, leaving only what feels true and what we dream. The image is of fire refining something, suggesting imagination distills experience down to its essential, emotional core.

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