“For each of us has a perch on the tree. After we are gone, that perch is marked by a notch, permanent, yes, but with its edges muting over time, assuming the tree is ever growing. Years from now someone can see that you were here, or there, and although you had little conception or care for the wider branching, in the next life there might be a sigh of wonder at how quietly flourishing it all was, if never majestic.” IfsYearsLittlesMightCareNextWonderGoneGrowingTreeAssumingEdgesPermanentConceptionSighFlourishingMajesticNext LifeNotches Book:On Such a Full Sea: A Novel Source: On Such a Full Sea: A Novel
“I really try to forget. I only look at my old works if there's an interview and someone asks me about it. Otherwise, it's not even in the rearview mirror.” IfsTryingLooksAsksForgetMirrorsAsk MeInterviewsRearview Mirror Author:Chang-Rae Lee
“Some writers are writing one great, big book and just taking all these different avenues towards it. They might seem on the outside to be different, but they're really not. And that's a different kind of mindset. I don't know why it is, but I just feel like I really want to escape myself as much as I can - myself as the artist, or as the writer, or as the thinker - with each new project, because one, it's just boredom, but also, I guess I just feel most comfortable starting a new book if I just feel a little in the dark about it.” IfsKnowsWantFeelsWritingKindLittlesI CanBookDifferentBigsSeemsMightArtistDarkComfortableProjectsStartingMindsetBoredomThinkerDifferent KindsAvenuesNew BooksNew ProjectsBig Book Author:Chang-Rae Lee
“For if there is ever a moment when we are most vulnerable, it’s when we’re closest to the idea of the attained desire, and thus farthest from ourselves, which is when we’ll tread through any flame.” IfsIdeasMomentsDesireVulnerableFlamesClosest Book:On Such a Full Sea: A Novel Source: On Such a Full Sea: A Novel
“What if loving something means you should mostly feel frustrated and thwarted? And then a little ruined, too, by the pursuit? But you keep coming back for more?” IfsFeelsShouldMeanLittlesPursuitWhat IfFrustratedRuinedComing BackLoving Something Author:Chang-Rae Lee
“We have hopes and make plans, and if they are dashed or waylaid, we naturally rationalize and redraw the map to locate ourselves anew. Or else we brood and too firmly root. Very few can step forward again and again in what amounts to veritable leaps into the void, where there are no ready holds, where little is familiar, where you get constantly stuck in the thickets of your uncertainties and fears.” IfsLittlesStepsPlansReadyAmountRootsStuckFamiliarUncertaintyMapsLeapVoidAgain And AgainSteps ForwardHaving HopeRationalizeThickets Book:On Such a Full Sea: A Novel Source: On Such a Full Sea: A Novel
“And it occurred to me that in this new millennial life of instant and ubiquitous connection, you don't in fact communicate so much as leave messages for one another, these odd improvisational performances, often sorry bits and samplings of ourselves that can't help but seem out of context. And then when you do finally reach someone, everyone's so out of practice or too hopeful or else embittered that you wonder if it would be better not to attempt contact at all.” IfsFactsHelpingSeemsWould BeBitsWonderPracticeMessagesConnectionsPerformancesSorryCommunicateContactOddInstantHopefulLeaving MeMillennialsOf ContextSampling Author:Chang-Rae Lee
