“I was struck by the way in which meanings are historically attached to words: it is so accidental, so remote, so twisted. A word is like a schoolgirl's room--a complete mess--so the great thing is to make out a way of seeing it all as ordered, as right, as inferred and following.” WayRoomsSeeingFollowingGreat ThingsMessTwistedMake Out Book:Conversations with William H. Gass Source: Conversations with 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 have a very conscious desire not to be academic. I'm antiacademic. I hate jargon. I hate that sort of pretension. I am a person who [commits] breaches of decorum - not in private life, but in my work. They are part of my mode of operation. That kind of playfulness is part of my nature in general. The paradox that, in a way, to take something very seriously, you can't always be serious about it.” WayKindPersonsDesireHateSeriousConsciousI HateCommitOperationsParadoxAcademicPrivate LifePretensionBreachJargonPlayfulnessDecorum Author:William H. Gass
“I get very tense working, so I often have to get up and wander around the house. It is very bad on my stomach. I have to be mad to be working well anyway, and then I am mad about the way things are going on the page in addition. My ulcer flourishes and I have to chew lots of pills. When my work is going well, I am usually sort of sick.” WayWellsHousePagesSickMadGet UpWanderStomachPillsTenseUlcers Book:Conversations with William H. Gass Source: Conversations with William H. Gass
