“I feel like one of the things I'm trying most to do is stretch my empathetic reach, as far as it will go. I got as far as Gilles de Rais' assistant, for example, and not really as far as de Rais himself.” FeelsTryingExampleAssistantsEmpathetic Author:Jim Shepard
“I do find stories - or literary fiction - an apt form for analyzing the world. And especially for trying to imagine the other. An agenda, again, that seems more important now than ever.” WorldTryingImportantStoriesSeemsFormFictionImagineAgendasAnalyzing Author:Jim Shepard
“I think there's no question that historians create; they would tell you that, I think. If I'm trying to imagine an imperial Roman position, it's much easier to imagine the poor schlub who's not even sure why he's doing what he's doing than it is to imagine Caesar. At least for me. And I'm intrigued, too, by the position of the poor schlub who *still* finds himself supporting the imperial project.” IfsThinkingTryingStillsPoorImaginePositionEasierProjectsHistorianIntrigued Author:Jim Shepard
“The protagonist of Fourteen Stories, None of Them Are Yours doesn’t make it easy for us, channeling as he does Barry Hannah and Denis Johnson by way of Rick Bass and Dennis Hopper, and self-presenting as yet another damaged romantic who thinks it’s always time to play the cowboy, skating in and out of sense. He can’t see right, and he’s haunted by nearly everything. He’s trying to open up or shut himself down or at least get a hold of himself. He’s trying to make do with what he’s done, while he reminds us that we’re all, one way or another, in that position.” ThinkingWayTryingDoeSelfDonePlayStoriesEasyPositionOne WayCowboyJohnsonBassPresentingSkatingFourteenChannelingProtagonists Author:Jim Shepard
