“I do realize that the reader needs some form of resolution. Sometimes I think of it almost like writing a musical score where things have to harmonize and certain lines have to come to a close.” ThinkingNeedsWritingSometimesFormCertainRealizingLinesReaderMusicalScoreResolution Author:Nicole Krauss
“What interests me very much as a writer is the ability for writing to have our lives to be occupied so vividly by others. I think that's what we long for as writers.” ThinkingWritingLongInterestAbilityOur Lives Author:Nicole Krauss
“Because of the illusion. You fall in love, it's intoxicating, and for a little while, you actually feel like you've become one with the other person, merged souls and so on. You think you'll never be lonely again.” ThinkingFeelsLittlesPersonsSoulFallLike YouIllusionLonelyFalling In Love Author:Nicole Krauss
“I think in the whole field of questions about what we take to be "real," one of those questions is about the self. When you talk about the self we're always talking about whether it's a construction and it's a construction we're always in the process of working on. I don't think that work ever ends, to some degree.” ThinkingRealConstructionBeing Real Author:Nicole Krauss
“I'm not immune to the readers' desires. Sometimes they are my own, because I'm a reader, too. The readers' desire to know what really happened and what didn't. To have a glimpse into what's really the author and what isn't. I think we all have that and I wonder about what it means.” ThinkingMeanSometimesDesireWonder Author:Nicole Krauss
“I think a lot of the questions - questioning reality and the self and the desire to change, to me are always at the heart of life. No matter how old you are, to me life is always about changing and growing and discovering and that's not always easy.” ThinkingHeartRealityDesireEasyQuestioning Author:Nicole Krauss
“I feel really strongly about not wanting to overly guide the reader about what he or she should think. I really trust the reader to know for themselves and not to need too much. You have your own imagination, your own experiences, your own feelings, and a novel wants ultimately to ask questions. It doesn't assert anything, or shouldn't, I think.” ThinkingFeelingsImaginationNovelWant U Author:Nicole Krauss
“Obviously I've been reading Kafka for a long long time, since I was really young, and even before I ever read him I knew who he was. I had this weird sense that he was some kind of family. Like Uncle Kafka. Now I really think of him that way, the way we think about an uncle who opened up some path for being in a family that otherwise wouldn't have existed. I think of him that way as a writer and a familial figure.” ThinkingKindLongReadingPath Author:Nicole Krauss
“Forests, which I think do contain a lot mystery and traditionally are the setting for lawlessness and magic and what is outside of the rational to some degree, are still something more finite. I guess the desert and its crushing sense of infinite space is part of its connection to the mystical - on top of making you dehydrated and therefore primed for visions.” ThinkingVisionMagicMysteryInfiniteRationalCrushMystical Author:Nicole Krauss
“That he liked to think of himself as a philosopher. That he questioned all things, even the most simple, to the extent that when someone passing him on the street raised his hat and said, 'Good day,' Litvinoff often paused so long to weigh evidence that by the time he'd settled on an answer the person had gone on his way, leaving him standing alone.” ThinkingWayPersonsLongSaidSimpleAnswersGoneStreetsEvidenceStandingAll ThingsRaisedLeavingPhilosopherPassingPassingsHatsGood DayStanding AloneLeaving Him Author:Nicole Krauss
“THE DEATH OF LEOPOLD GURSKY Leopold Gursky started dying on August 18, 1920. He died learning to walk. He died standing at the blackboard. And once, also, carrying a heavy tray. He died practicing a new way to sign his name. Opening a window. Washing his genitals in the bath. He died alone, because he was too embarrassed to phone anyone. Or he died thinking about Alma. Or when he chose not to.” ThinkingWayNamesWalksDyingStandingWindowDiedPhonesHeavyOpeningNew WaysEmbarrassedBathsWashingAugustTraysBlackboard Book:The History of Love: A Novel Source: The History of Love: A Novel
“Now we'd known each other for two years, the side of my calf was touching his shins, and his stomach was against my ribs. He said, "I don't think it's end of world to be my girlfriend." I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. It took seven languages to make me; it would be nice if I could have spoken just one.” IfsThinkingWorldYearsSaidTwoEndsWould BeLanguageSidesKnownNiceMouthsSevenGirlfriendJust OneIf I CouldTwo YearsTouchingStomachBeing NiceMy GirlfriendRibsCalvesBe My Girlfriend Author:Nicole Krauss
“When you are young, you think it's going to be solved by love. But it never is. Being close -- as close as you can get -- to another person only makes clear that impassable distance between you.' If being in love only made people more lonely, why would everyone want it so much?' Because of the illusion. You fall in love, it's intoxicating, and for a little while you feel like you've actually become one with the other person. Merged souls and so on. You think you'll never be lonely again.” PeopleIfsThinkingWantFeelsLittlesPersonsMadeSoulYoungFallClearLike YouIllusionLonelyDistanceFalling In LoveBeing In Love Author:Nicole Krauss
“I like to think the world wasn't ready for me, but maybe the truth is that I wasn't ready for the world. I've always arrived too late for my life.” ThinkingWorldLifeReadyTruth IsLateToo Late Book:The History of Love: A Novel Source: The History of Love: A Novel
“I think of novels as houses. You live in them over the course of a long period, both as a reader and as a writer.” ThinkingLongCoursesHouseNovelReaderPeriods Author:Nicole Krauss
“I am always coming up with architectural metaphors when I think about writing. But I think one of the things that draw us to literature is that it gives us this very attractive illusion that there is meaning in the world - things connect.” ThinkingWorldGivingWritingLiteratureDrawsIllusionMetaphorAttractive Author:Nicole Krauss
“I used to think that if I had a choice between writing well and living well, I would choose the former. But now I think that's sheer lunacy. Writing weighs so much less, in the great cosmic equation, than living.” IfsThinkingWritingWellsUsedChoicesFormerCosmicSheerEquationsLive WellLunacyWriting Well Author:Nicole Krauss
