“If Mumia Abu-Jamal has nothing important to say, why are so many powerful people trying to shut him up?” PeopleIfsTryingImportantPowerful Author:John Edgar Wideman
“I really love James Joyce, Dubliners and other work. And I was interested in the way the dash was used in English topography - in his work particularly - and I realized there was no compulsion to use those ugly dot-dot curlicues all over the place to designate dialogue. I began to look around, and found writers who could make transitions quite clear by the language itself. I'm a bit of a maverick now. I'm always trying to push the medium.” WayTryingLooksUseUsedFoundLanguageBitsClearUglyI RealizedDialogueMediumsTransitionCompulsionAlways TryingDotsJoyceMaverickTopography Author:John Edgar Wideman
“Our thoughts, our language, are always at a distance from whatever they're trying to describe. We have other kinds of languages, like mathematics, like music, like art, but there's always that gap.” TryingKindArtLanguageMathematicsDistanceGapsOur Thoughts Author:John Edgar Wideman
“I'm still divided in my principles and what I think is right and what I'm actually able to do, whether talking about writing or being a citizen or being a husband or being a father. And I'm trying to get better.” ThinkingWritingTryingStillsAbleFatherTalkingPrinciplesCitizensHusbandGet BetterDividedBeing A Father Author:John Edgar Wideman
“Our thoughts, our language, are always at a distance from whatever they're trying to describe. We're dreamers and - since we only have one life, and if we screw up we can get in a world of trouble - we're very intense dreamers. That's the beauty and the terror of being human beings: We just have these symbolic languages, these dreams, and that's all it ever is. There is no American or Frenchhistory. There are all these dreams that are floating around. People construct them and fight with them and criticize them, and the world goes on. I don't think the stars pay much attention.” PeopleThinkingWorldTryingDreamFightingLanguageAttentionTroubleDistanceTerrorIntenseCriticizeDreamerBeing Human Author:John Edgar Wideman
