“Rilke said that art can come only out of inner necessity. I write because I must. Or because I cannot not write.” Quote by Aleksandar Hemon
“For a fight to be productive, or at least relevant, writers should fight over different demands they put upon writing (as an individual, private act) and literature (a network of relations in which we are all involved).” ShouldWritingDifferentFightingLiteratureIndividualInvolvedDemandRelationProductiveRelevant Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“I am itching to criticize some well-regarded writers' works, but I am not doing it because I am perfectly aware that my critique could easily be reduced to envy or just plain meanness.” WellsEnvyCriticizeCritiqueMeannessItching Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“I've read books in school that were written by ideological rote - they were brainwashers. Therefore, any art, any literature, that has a clearly defined political goal is repellent to me.” ArtBookSchoolPoliticalLiteratureGoalWrittenDefinedIdeological Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“It's not that war crimes stop as soon as a novel about them is published. Literature operates slowly, it is always inching toward bliss, never quite getting there.” WarLiteratureNovelCrimeBlissNever QuitWar Crimes Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“As long as there are living human beings, there will be language and stories.” HumansLongStoriesLanguageHuman BeingsBeing There Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“What you demand from storytelling is a moral - even political - import. I tend to shun that didactic aspect.” PoliticalMoralDemandAspectStorytellingImportsDidactic Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“I like the idea of a book being a democratic space which readers enter, carrying their own thoughts, and participate in a conversation, or experience of grace.” BookIdeasSpaceGraceReaderConversationDemocratic Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“Color is a very critical thing. I've found that architects don't like colors. Engineers too. And so somebody has to stand in. Because this is the finish of it. It is the emotional part of a structure.” FoundEmotionalColorStructureCriticalArchitectEngineers Author:John Hench
“Whatever solidarity I have established with other writers individually, it is usually organized around books. We connected as readers, as it were, not writers.” BookReaderConnectedOrganizedSolidarity Author:Aleksandar Hemon