I love the way dates in a text make us think that truth will follow.
“I love the way dates in a text make us think … Read More
I like big doses of grief when I read: Richard Yates, Flannery O’Connor, Kenzabaro Oe, Thomas Bernhard.
“I like big doses of grief when I read: Richard Yates, … Read More
Fiction becomes a place where I face certain fears such as losing language or losing my children.
“Fiction becomes a place where I face certain fears such as … Read More
Among other things, autoimmune disorders are an induction into a world of unstable information and no reliable expertise.
“Among other things, autoimmune disorders are an induction into a world … Read More
A self needed to spill out sometimes, a body should show evidence of what the hell went on inside it.
“A self needed to spill out sometimes, a body should show … Read More
My first book, ‘The Age of Wire and String,’ came out in 1995, and it was hardly reviewed at all.
“My first book, ‘The Age of Wire and String,’ came out … Read More
Being with him was like being alone underwater – everything was slow; nothing counted; I could not be harmed; I would feel dry and cold when I resurfaced.
“Being with him was like being alone underwater – everything was … Read More
Without sound, celebration and grief look nearly the same.
“Without sound, celebration and grief look nearly the same.” Ben … Read More
A misspelled word is probably an alias for some desperate call for aid, which is bound to fail.
“A misspelled word is probably an alias for some desperate call … Read More
People are considered as areas that resist light, mistakes in the air, collision sweet spots. At the time of this writing, the whole world is a crime scene: People eat space with their bodies; they are rain decayers; the wind is slaughtered when they move. A retaliation is probably coming. Should a person cease to move, she would cease to kill the sky, and the world might begin to recover.
“People are considered as areas that resist light, mistakes in the … Read More
When I started writing at 18 or 19, I had a fear of anything autobiographical, but I’ve come to realise that my writing is very autobiographical at the emotional level.
“When I started writing at 18 or 19, I had a … Read More
To refrain from storytelling is perhaps one of the highest forms of respect we can pay. Those people, with no stories to circle them, can die without being misunderstood.
“To refrain from storytelling is perhaps one of the highest forms … Read More
Slamming the book shut produces a wind on the face, a weather that is copyrighted by the author, and this wind may not be deployed without permission, nor may the pages be turned without express written permission.
“Slamming the book shut produces a wind on the face, a … Read More
Rain is used as white noise when God is disgusted by too much prayer, when the sky is stuffed to bursting with the noise of what people need.
“Rain is used as white noise when God is disgusted by … Read More
RHETORIC The art of making life less believable; the calculated use of language, not to alarm but to do full harm to our busy minds and properly dispose our listeners to a pain they have never dreamed of. The context of what can be known establishes that love and indifference are forms of language, but the wise addition of punctuation allows us to believe that there are other harms – the dash gives the reader the clear signal they are coming.
“RHETORIC The art of making life less believable; the calculated use … Read More
Suspense left my life a long time ago, now it has returned. I do not care for it.
“Suspense left my life a long time ago, now it has … Read More
Sorry, I said to myself, wondering how many times in my marriage I’d said that, how many times I’d meant it, how many times Claire had actually believed it, and, most important, how many times the utterance had any impact whatsoever on our dispute. What a lovely chart one could draw of this word Sorry.
“Sorry, I said to myself, wondering how many times in my … Read More
Machineries of reason, machineries of conduct, machineries of virtue. The machine that regulates instinct, keeps one’s hands free of another man’s throat, free of one’s own. These machines have all, as someone said, gone too long in the elements. Gummed now, rusted, bloodless.I forget who said it and I no longer care.
“Machineries of reason, machineries of conduct, machineries of virtue. The machine … Read More
Judaism to me, as badly as I practiced it, what I’ve always loved about it was its total embrace of complexity, its admission of unknowability.
“Judaism to me, as badly as I practiced it, what I’ve … Read More
I don’t like real places, but I don’t like imagined ones either. I feel like I’m looking for some mixture and it’s very hard for me to say because I like to use real place names because there’s an uncanny feeling to them, but at the same time I don’t ever really try to make them plausible. Sometimes I like to use them as a way to hide in plain sight a little bit, because to me a very exotic or imagined setting has a lot of weight and a lot of burden to it, and it doesn’t suit me, but a real place seems to have its own weird legacy, so I don’t know what the choice is?
“I don’t like real places, but I don’t like imagined ones … Read More