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Charles Baxter

Charles Baxter Biography

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“Of course they were children, he knew that, and that wasn't it. They gave off a terrible glow. They had the blank glow of angels. They lived smack in the middle of reality and never gave it a minute's thought. They'd never felt like actors. They'd never been sick with irony. The long tunnel of their thoughts had never swallowed them. They'd never had restless sleepless nights, the urgent wordless unexplainable wrestling matches with the shadowy bands of soul-thieves. God damn it, Sault thought. Everybody gets to be happy except me. Saul heard Anne's cries. The sun was sweating all over his forehead. He felt faint, and Jewish, as usual. He turned on the radio. It happened to be tuned to a religious station and some choir was singing "When Jesus Wept.”

Weltschmerz
Author:Charles Baxter
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“Every relationship has at least one really good day. What I mean is, no matter how sour things go, there's always that day. That day is always in your possession. That's the day you remember. You get old and you think: well, at least I had that day. It happened once. You think all the variables might just line up again. But they don't. Not always. I once talked to a woman who said, "Yeah, that's the day we had an angel around.”

ThinkingWellsMeanSaidMatterMightRememberLinesHappenedAngelYeahPossessionGood DayRemember YouRemembers YouSourVariables
Book:The feast of love
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“The problem with love and God, the two of them, is how to say anything about them that doesn’t annihilate them instantly with the wrong words, with untruth. . . . In this sense, love and God are equivalents. We feel both, but because we cannot speak clearly about them, we end up–wordless, inarticulate—by denying their existence altogether, and, pfffffft, they die.”

FeelsTwoEndsProblemDiesSpeakExistenceSay AnythingUntruthInarticulateGod And LoveWrong Words
Book:The feast of love
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“What's agitating about solitude is the inner voice telling you that you should be mated to somebody, that solitude is a mistake. The inner voice doesn't care about who you find. It just keeps pestering you, tormenting you--if you happen to be me--with homecoming queens first, then girls next door, and finally anybody who might be pleased to see you now and then at the dinner table and in bed on occasion. You look up from reading the newspaper and realize that no one loves you, and no one burns for you.”

IfsShouldFirstsLooksMightHappensCareGirlReadingNextVoiceRealizingMistakeDoorsLove YouSolitudeBedTablesDinnerNewspapersOccasionsQueensLook UpNow And ThenOne LoveInner VoiceHomecomingDinner TableHomecoming Queen
Book:The feast of love
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“In February, the overcast sky isn’t gloomy so much as neutral and vague. It’s a significant factor in the common experience of depression among the locals. The snow crunches under your boots and clings to your trousers, to the cuffs, and once you’re inside, the snow clings to you psyche, and eventually you have to go to the doctor. The past soaks into you in this weather because the present is missing almost entirely.”

PastCommonSkyMissingDoctorsSignificantLocalsSnowWeatherFactorsBootsVagueGloomyFebruaryTrousersCrunchCuffsCommon ExperienceOvercast
Book:The feast of love
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