“I try to tell student writers to read as much as possible, not only literature but philosophy, theory, and to form obsessions. There's a big taboo in fiction creative writing workshops against using the self at all, and I think I try to encourage students to write the self, but to connect the self to something larger, which is to be this thinking, seeing, searching, eternally curious person, and that writing can come out of investigating and trying to understand confusion, and doubts, and obsessions.” ThinkingWritingTryingPersonsSelfPhilosophyBigsFormLiteratureFictionCreativeDoubtSeeingStudentsTheoryObsessionConfusionCuriousCreative WritingTabooWorkshopsInvestigatingWriting WorkshopEncourage Students Author:Kate Zambreno
“The biographies of the great men see their excesses as signs of their greatness. But Jean Rhys, in her biography, is read as borderline; Anaïs Nin is borderline; Djuna is borderline; etc. etc. Borderline personality disorder being an overwhelmingly gendered diagnosis. I write in Heroines: “The charges of borderline personality disorder are the same charges against girls writing literature, I realize - too emotional, too impulsive, no boundaries."” MenWritingGirlLiteratureRealizingGreatnessEmotionalPersonalityBoundariesGreat MenEtcDisorderExcessBiographiesDiagnosisHeroinesImpulsiveNo BoundariesBorderlinePersonality Disorders Author:Kate Zambreno
“People are more concerned about the economy then these ridiculous concerns as to gender inequity in society, as manifested in marriages, in the mental health system, and then in literature.” PeopleLiteratureEconomyConcernConcernedMental HealthGenderRidiculousHealth System Author:Kate Zambreno
“I don't think men experience the embargo on channeling the autobiography in their literature.” ThinkingMenLiteratureAutobiographyChannelingEmbargo Author:Kate Zambreno
“The memoir by women, read by female readers, is considered a market form, not "great literature."” FormLiteratureReaderFemaleMemoirGreat Literature Author:Kate Zambreno
“The hope in literature is that we are allowed to be imperfect, to write of our imperfection, without being overly critiqued for being unlikeable.” WritingLiteratureImperfectionImperfect Author:Kate Zambreno
