The form may be simple, and the language plain as daylight, but the inner meaning, the latent content, of a masterpiece will not be perceived without a certain imaginative and emotional effort. In this sense, the great artist makes every one of his readers into a philosopher and poet, to a greater or lesser degree, according to that reader’s powers. The novelist of genius, by presenting the particular instance, indicates the general truth. He indicates, but he does not attempt to state it--for to state the general truth is to circumscribe it, to make it less than itself. The final verdict, The ultimate synthesis, must be left to the reader; and each reader will modify it in accordance with his needs. The aggregate of all these individual syntheses is the measure of the impact of a work of art upon the world. It is, in fact, a part of that work. In this way, masterpieces, throughout the ages, actually undergo a sort of organic growth.