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Colm Toibin

Colm Toibin Books

Novelist

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“Roth Unbound is filled with intelligent readings and smart judgments. Because of the author's sympathy and sharp mind, it offers real insight into the creative process itself, and into Philip Roth's high calling as a great American artist. The book is, in some ways, a radical rereading of Roth's life and his work. It is impossible, by the end, not to feel a tender admiration for Roth as a novelist and indeed for Claudia Roth Pierpont as an empathetic and brilliant critic.”

WayFeelsMindBookRealEndsArtistReadingProcessCreativeImpossibleCallingOffersJudgmentSmartIntelligentFilledCriticsInsightBrilliantRadicalNovelistsWorking ItAdmirationCreative ProcessGreat AmericanPhilipEmpatheticRereadingUnboundClaudia
Author:Colm Toibin
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“I said that when I looked at photographs of the firefighters who went into the Twin Towers, their faces looked to me like Irish faces. I hadn't yet learnt how careful outsiders have to be when talking about race in America, and I'd put my foot in it. Someone stood up and said aggressively, 'What do you mean by Irish faces?'”

MeanSaidAmericaFacesRaceTalkingFeetPhotographCarefulOutsidersTwinsTowersStood UpFirefighterRace In AmericaTwin Towers
Author:Colm Toibin
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“The problem is once you've written the opening paragraph and worked out how the rest of the story will go in your head, there's nothing in it for you. I write in longhand using disposable fountain pens on the right-hand side of the notebook for the first draft, then I rewrite some of the sentences and paragraphs on the left-hand side.”

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Author:Colm Toibin
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“I like it that they [disciples] feed me and pay for my clothes and protect me. And in return I will do for them what I can, but no more than that. Just as I cannot breathe the breath of another or help the heart of someone else to beat or their bones not to weaken or their flesh not to shrivel, I cannot say more than I can say. And I know how deeply this disturbs them, and it would make me smile, this earnest need for foolish anecdote or sharp simple patterns in the story of what happened to us all, except that I have forgotten how to smile.”

KnowsNeedsHeartI CanHelpingStoriesSimplePayKnow HowHappenedReturnProtectClothesBeatsBreathsForgottenPatternsBonesBreatheFleshFoolishDiscipleEarnestAnecdotesMake Me Smile
Author:Colm Toibin
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“I do not know why it matters that I should tell the truth to myself at night, why it should matter that the truth should be spoken at least once in the world. Because the world is a place of silence, the sky at night when the birds have gone is a vast silent place. Words will make the slightest difference to the sky at night. They will not brighten it or make it less strange. And the day too has its own deep indifference to anything that is said.”

KnowsWorldShouldSaidMatterNightDifferencesSilenceGoneSkyStrangeBirdSilentIndifferenceTelling The Truth
Book:The Testament of Mary: A Novel
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