"I do believe some are painstakingly constructed, like a fine craft or sculpture, chiseled out of raw material," says Jehan. "And some boil and bubble in the mind before emerging, like the world taking shape out of Infinite. But some--yes, some I do believe are made from sights and sounds drifting over to us from Elsewhere, intelligible only to those who embrace the quiet."

Jehan has given this speech before.

"I always thought of Hugo's work as more the naturally emerging kind, I must say. This makes me regard him in a new light."