#literary

Each book, intuitively sensed and, in the case of fiction, intuitively worked out, stands on what has gone before, and grows out of it. I feel that at any stage of my literary career it could have been said that the last book contained all the others. ↗

— V. S. Naipaul

#been #before #book #career #case

When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow. ↗

— Anais Nin

#become #blindly #cease #dogma #grow

Fiction writing was in my blood from a very young age, but I never considered writing as a real career. I thought you had to have some literary pedigree to be a successful author, the son of Hemingway or Fitzgerald. ↗

— James Rollins

#author #blood #career #considered #fiction

Above all, for his merciless, contemptuous treatment of Clifford Chatterley, blown to bits in Flanders in 1918, Lawrence can be damned to hell. Damned but not banned. ↗

— Germaine Greer

#literary-criticism

Ivanov had been a party member since 1902. Back then he had tried to write stories in the manner of Tolstoy, Chekhov, Gorky, or rather he had tried to plagiarize them without much success, which led him, after long reflection (a whole summer night), to the astute decision that he should write in the manner of Odoevsky and Lazhechnikov. Fifty percent Odoevsky and fifty percent Lazhecknikov. This went over well, in part because readers, their memories mostly faulty, had forgotten poor Odoevsky (1803-1869) and poor Lazhechnikov (1792-1869), who died the same year, and in part because literary criticism, as keen as ever, neither extrapolated nor made the connection nor noticed a thing. ↗

— Roberto Bolaño

#literary-criticism

If a literary man puts together two words about music, one of them will be wrong. ↗

— Aaron Copland

#literary #man #music #puts #them

I have no literary fears. ↗

— Carlos Fuentes

#i #literary

I think that the idea that I'm writing for many more people than I ever imagined has created a certain general responsibility that is literary and political. There's even pride involved, in not wanting to fall short of what I did before. ↗

— Gabriel Garcia Marquez

#certain #created #did #even #ever

A great literary work can be completely, completely unpredictable. Which can sometimes make them very hard to read, but it gives them a great originality. ↗

— Yann Martel

#gives #great #hard #literary #literary work

One of the most beautiful passages of Rousseau is that in the sixth book of Confessions, where he describes the awakening in him of the literary sense. Of such wisdom, the poetic passion, the desire of beauty, the love of art for its own sake, has most. ↗

— Walter Pater

#awakening #beautiful #beauty #book #confessions