literature, conversations, miscellany

I want an example, a model for how to live independently, with the smallest bit of indifference and anonymity, without fear, for a while, for the summer.

“I like going to a show where everyone is into the music…Everyone’s on the same page for whatever, how long, twenty minutes. That feeling’s pretty cool.”

“I always start with the notion that I am going to write a short story. I don’t mind writing a novel, but I never set out to write one.”

There was probably a point when I should have mentioned that I wasn’t actually Burt Reynolds.

“Having two parents who don’t love each other is like having your blood and your skin not get along.”

It had to do with desire, the Eugene O’Neill sort of desire, the sort that you can’t ignore, that you shouldn’t ignore. It would be wrong to ignore.

“Literature took me…to places where people overcome their limitations, and to places where they don’t. The latter may be the most important way literature engages us, reminding us of our common humanity.”