If there were a better, clearer, shorter way of saying what the fiction says, then why not scrap the fiction?

If there were a better, clearer, shorter way of saying what the fiction says, then why not scrap the fiction?

如果有一种更好、更清晰、更简短的方式来表达小说的意思，那么为什么不放弃小说呢?

-- John Maxwell Coetzee 约翰·麦克斯韦·科茨