[My father] had spent his own short time like a priest in charge of a relic, forever expecting the blessed blood to liquefy.
Mavis GallantLike every other form of art, literature is no more and nothing less than a matter of life and death. The only question worth asking about a story — or a poem, or a piece of sculpture, or a new concert hall — is, Is it dead or alive?
Mavis Gallant