The only virtue a character needs to possess between hardcovers, even if he bears a real person's name, is vitality: if he comes to life in our imaginations, he passes the test.
Source: Condemned World, Literary Kingdom, review of Mailer, Armies of the Night, in Times Saturday Review (London, 21 Sept. 1968; repr. in Truth and Lies in Literature, 1986).
-- Stephen Vizinczey, (Jan 0 1933-____), Hungary novelist, writer, producer; He is best known for his first novel, his first novel, In Praise of Older Women.