“Every artist, writers included, have an ethics and an aesthetics, whether they can formulate them or not. I happen to think that it is good to be able to formulate - it is good to know what you are doing and to be able to talk about it.” ThinkingKnowsHappensAbleArtistEthicsAesthetics Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“Language is so inherent to humanity, so necessary for even basic thinking, that stories and poetry are available to anyone who can process language.” ThinkingStoriesHumanityLanguageProcessAvailableInherent Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“I never thought of myself as an outsider. Because outside of what? You would have to give advantage to this space where you're not, to think of it as sovereign because you're not there. I was always in the center of where I needed to be.” ThinkingGivingSpaceNeededAdvantageOutsidersSovereign Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“Politics imagined as direct agency, whether by voting or by participating in politics, you can think you're not political because you don't do anything between elections.” ThinkingPoliticalDirectElectionAgencyVotingParticipating Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“I'm bright, but there are lots of bright writers and people everywhere. In no way, at no point do I think I'm better than them.” PeopleThinkingWayNo Point Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“There are many things I think about that never get to the point of becoming serious. In other words, I try to talk myself out of writing, sometimes for many years, and when I run out of arguments, I write.” ThinkingWritingTryingYearsSometimesRunningSeriousBecomingArgument Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“I think about the story while I think about other things. This is an important part of the process: I look at it sideways. If I look straight at it, it produces nothing other than what seem like complicated, brilliant designs that fall apart the following morning. In some way stories mature when you're not looking.” IfsThinkingWayLooksImportantStoriesSeemsFallProcessMorningDesignProduceFollowingComplicatedBrilliantMatureFalling ApartSideways Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“I'm not nervous if I think about something for nine years and then I don't write it. Even if it fades it doesn't concern me. It'll come back if it's worth it.” IfsThinkingWritingYearsConcernNineNervousFadesWorth ItNine Years Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“I've never had a stupid student in my life. I never look down on my students. I never thought, "Look at these people." I might argue with them and I think that some of them might have misconceptions - that they might be infected by the intellectual laziness that is the foundation of American popular culture, and of capitalism, if you wish. But part of my job as a teacher is to work with that - against that.” PeopleIfsThinkingLooksMightJobsCultureWishTeacherStupidStudentsIntellectualCapitalismFoundationArguingLazinessMisconceptionPopular CultureIntellectual Laziness Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“When I was in high school, I was in a special math class. I was infatuated with physics, particularly nuclear physics, Einstein, and the Big Bang. I read a lot about black holes. And partly because I'm so lazy I thought you could do all this just by looking at the sky and thinking up universes. It didn't seem like hard work when I was a kid, so I enrolled in this class.” ThinkingHardBigsSeemsKidsSchoolUniverseBlackClassSkySpecialHard WorkHigh SchoolMathNuclearPhysicsHolesLazyBangsBlack HoleInfatuatedNuclear PhysicsMath Class Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“It is my belief that we as human beings have a need to tell stories - I think it's evolutionary. So you can think of the short story as a literary form, or you can instead think of stories.” ThinkingNeedsHumansStoriesFormBeliefHuman BeingsShort Story Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“There's something in psychology called the narrative paradigm, which essentially means that we think of our lives as stories in which we are the main characters.” ThinkingMeanCharacterStoriesPsychologyOur LivesNarrativeParadigmMain Characters Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“The way I think of my work is that I have to think up the way to tell a story, starting from scratch. The changes in the industry concern me in a general way because I think civilization is doomed.” ThinkingWayStoriesIndustryCivilizationConcernStartingDoomedScratches Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“I think it's interesting, from a creative point of view, to have witnessed the loss of consciousness on a national level and on a cultural level - Bush had 91 percent support in the polls after 9/11. We wanted to kick some ass!” ThinkingWantedLossInterestingLevelsViewsConsciousnessSupportCreativePercentPoint Of ViewAssKicksPolls Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“I cannot think of a country in which I would be happy with the government and dominant ideology and available propaganda.” ThinkingCountryGovernmentWould BeAvailableIdeologyPropagandaDominant Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“I don't think that everyone should have a philosophical answer to any given question. There are things that need to be done.” ThinkingNeedsShouldDoneGivenAnswersShould HavePhilosophical Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“You have to suspend thinking in narratives. The moment you are conscious of yourself the gap opens up. And in this gap, stories are generated.” ThinkingMomentsStoriesConsciousNarrativeGaps Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“When I look at my old pictures, all I can see is what I used to be but am no longer. I think: What I can see is what I am not.” ThinkingLooksI CanUsedUsed To BeOld Picture Book:The Lazarus Project Source: The Lazarus Project
“I much preferred winning to thinking and I didn't like losing at all.” ThinkingWinningLosing Author:Aleksandar Hemon
