#liter

All the old houses that I knew when I was a child were full of books, bought generation after generation by members of the family. Everyone was literate as a matter of course. Nobody told you to read this or not to read that. It was there to read, and we read. ↗

— Katherine Ann Porter

#literacy #reading #family

Guilt is a feeble emotion. It surrenders too easily ↗

— Deborah McKinlay

#relationships #women-s-literary #family

Atticus "three kinds of cat shit, Oberon." Oberon "and an arrogant family of squirrels. ↗

— Kevin Hearne

#batman-inuendos #great-swearing #family

The pale organisms of literary heroes feeding under the author's supervision swell gradually with the reader's lifeblood; so that the genius of a writer consists in giving them the faculty to adapt themselves to that - not very appetizing - food and thrive on it, sometimes for centuries. ↗

— Vladimir Nabokov

#reader #writer #writing #food

Genuine bravery for a writer.... It is about calmly speaking the truth when everyone else is silenced, when the truth cannot be expressed. It is about speaking out with a different voice, risking the wrath of the state and offending everyone, for the sake of the truth, and the writer’s conscience. ↗

— Murong Xuecun

#literature #freedom

Actually, I am a coward. I say only what is safe to say, and I criticise only what is permissable to criticise. ↗

— Murong Xuecun

#literature #freedom

It is difficult to call myself a writer, even when I stand at a podium to receive a prize, I feel uncomfortable calling myself a writer—I am merely a word criminal. ↗

— Murong Xuecun

#literature #freedom

Because at this time, in this place, Chinese writing exhibits symptoms of a mental disorder. ↗

— Murong Xuecun

#freedom-of-speech #freedom

The only truth is that we cannot speak the truth . The only acceptable viewpoint is that we cannot express a viewpoint. ↗

— Murong Xuecun

#literature #freedom

Literature for me… tries to heal the harm done by stories. (How much harm? Most of the atrocities of history have been created by stories, e.g., the Jews killed Jesus.) I follow Sartre that the freedom the author claims for herself must be shared with the reader. So that would mean that literature is stories that put themselves at the disposal of readers who want to heal themselves. Their healing power lies in their honesty, the freshness of their vision, the new and unexpected things they show, the increase in power and responsibility they give the reader. ↗

— Geoff Ryman

#freedom #freshness #healing #honesty #literature