“My husband is a musician. He cooks and he's a chef but he also, he makes basement recordings. So many people in my life make basement recordings, so I feel very lucky, I'm surrounded by very creative people.” PeopleFeelsCreativeLuckyHusbandMusicianCooksMy HusbandChefCreative PeopleBasements Author:Dana Spiotta
“People think it's suspect and self-indulgent to make art, and I don't think that's true. Some people think you should be busy making something that you can sell in the marketplace, and if nobody wants to buy it, it must be crap. And that's not true.” PeopleIfsThinkingWantShouldArtSelfSellsBusySuspectsCrapMarketplaceSelf Indulgent Author:Dana Spiotta
“There's lots of things that can't make it in the world that are worth making. There are lots of great artists who never make it, there are lots of great writers who don't get published - is it still worthwhile? Aren't we glad people are still doing it?” PeopleWorldStillsArtistGladWorthwhileGreat ArtGreat ArtistGreat Writers Author:Dana Spiotta
“Most human things are full of conflict and ambivalence, not ease and simplicity. The world has grown increasingly fundamentalist, and the parameters of discussion have become narrowed. People, when they're fearful, are vulnerable to certainty in rhetoric.” PeopleWorldHumansConflictSimplicityVulnerableCertaintyEaseDiscussionFearfulRhetoricFundamentalistParametersAmbivalence Author:Dana Spiotta
“I think there's a false division people sometimes make in describing literary novels, where there are people who write systems novels, or novels of ideas, and there are people who write about emotional things in which the movement is character driven. But no good novels are divisible in that way.” PeopleThinkingWayWritingIdeasSometimesCharacterNovelMovementEmotionalDrivenDivisionDescribingEmotional Things Author:Dana Spiotta
“I like to mix the real and the imaginary. Sometimes it is characters inspired by real people I know or know of. Sometimes it is a named person from the common cultural dreamscape. And it is tricky, because they have a lot of associated ideas that come with them, and a lot of actual facts.” PeopleKnowsPersonsIdeasRealSometimesCharacterFactsCommonInspiredImaginaryTricky Author:Dana Spiotta
“Even if we try to see people in our lives accurately, it is distorted by our own wants and prejudices and experiences.” PeopleIfsWantTryingOur LivesPrejudicePeople In Our Lives Author:Dana Spiotta
“I am, it seems, interested in people with multiple identities. I think we all have multiple identities.” PeopleThinkingSeemsIdentityMultipleMultiple Identities Author:Dana Spiotta
“The novel is about, for me, sustained and organized looking. I do think that people have a hunger for a sustained engagement, that concentration that the book can offer.” PeopleThinkingBookNovelOffersHungerOrganizedConcentrationEngagement Author:Dana Spiotta
“Occupy Wall Street means making Wall Street and the corporate power elite understand that the people affected by the binge of unregulated greed are not going away, and they are not going to give up.” PeopleGivingMeanStreetsWallGiving UpGreedCorporateGoing AwayAffectedElitesBingeCorporate GreedOccupy Wall Street Author:Dana Spiotta
