E. L. Doctorow Quotes
Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader - not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon. History is the present. That's why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth. I can walk into a bookstore and hand over my credit card and they don't know who the hell I am. Maybe that says something about bookstore clerks. I thought I would lose, so I didn't prepare a speech. I try to avoid experience if I can. Most experience is bad. In the twentieth century one of the most personal relationships to have developed is that of the person and the state. It's become a fact of life that governments have become very intimate with people, most always to their detriment. It's like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. Like art and politics, gangsterism is a very important avenue of assimilation into society. Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing. The writer isn't made in a vacuum. Writers are witnesses. The reason we need writers is because we need witnesses to this terrifying century. There is no longer any such thing as fiction or nonfiction; there's only narrative. We're always attracted to the edges of what we are, out by the edges where it's a little raw and nervy. Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake. Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go. Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
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