redmallee:

“The transformation of life into drama is unhealthy. People who have grown up in the culture of the city always see pictures of the sea before they see the sea; they read of love in romance novels and only later do they know love. Our experience is often second-hand, borrowed from artificial theatricals, and as a result the line between life and its dramatisation becomes difficult to draw.”

— Written on Water, Eileen Chang,1944.