“When book and reader's furrowed brow meet, it isn't always the book that's stupid.” BookStupidReaderBrows Author:William H. Gass
“The speeding reader guts a book the way the skillful clean fish. The gills are gone, the tail, the scales, the fins; then the fillet slides away swifly as though fed to a seal.” WayBookGoneReaderCleanFishesScalesGutsFedsTailsSlidesSealsSkillfulSpeedingFins Author:William H. Gass
“I do think of my reader, or listener, really, more often, if I give a lecture, for example, and I know that I'm talking to these people; I enjoy sort of preening them a bit. But it's a matter of decorum, basically.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsGivingMatterBitsEnjoyTalkingExampleReaderListenersLecturesDecorum Author:William H. Gass
“We must take our sentences seriously, which means we must understand them philosophically, and the odd thing is that the few who do, who take them with utter sober seriousness, the utter sober seriousness of right-wing parsons and political saviors, the owners of Pomeranians, are the liars who want to be believed, the novelists and poets, who know that the creatures they imagine have no other being than the sounding syllables which the reader will speak into his own weary and distracted head. There are no magic words. To say the words is magical enough.” KnowsWantMeanEnoughPoliticalSpeakImagineMagicPoetReaderCreaturesWingsSentencesOddNovelistsOwnersLiarsSaviorWearySoberDistractedSeriousnessRight WingSyllablesOdd ThingsMagic WordsPomeranians Author:William H. Gass
“For the speedy reader paragraphs become a country the eye flies over looking for landmarks, reference points, airports, restrooms, passages of sex.” CountryEyeSexReaderPassagesAirportsParagraphLandmarksRestroom Author:William H. Gass
“Only the slow reader will notice the odd crowd of images-flier, butcher, seal-which have gathered to comment on the aims and activities of the speeding reader, perhaps like gossips at a wedding.” ReadingReaderActivityAimCrowdsOddGossipCommentSealsButchersSpeeding Author:William H. Gass
