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Quote by James M. Cain

Work

The Postman Always Rings Twice

This novel explores themes of obsession, greed, and the destructive power of love through the story of a woman and her lover who commit a murder in a small town. The narrative is known for its suspenseful and atmospheric storytelling, and its exploration of the dark side of human nature. more

Author

James M. Cain
James M. Cain

James M. Cain was an American author known for his crime novels and noir fiction. His works, often featuring hard-boiled detectives, had a profound impact on 20th-century American literature. more

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“A very elementary exercise in psychology, not to be dignified by the name of psycho-analysis, showed me, on looking at my notebook, that the sketch of the angry professor had been made in anger. Anger had snatched my pencil while I dreamt. But what was anger doing there? Interest, confusion, amusement, boredom--all these emotions I could trace and name as they succeeded each other throughout the morning. Had anger, the black snake, been lurking among them? Yes, said the sketch, anger had.”

“The really important facts were that spatial relationships had ceased to matter very much and that my mind was perceiving the world in terms of other than spatial categories. At ordinary times the eye concerns itself with such problems as where? — how far? — how situated in relation to what? In the mescaline experience the implied questions to which the eye responds are of another order. Place and distance cease to be of much interest. The mind does its perceiving in terms of intensity of existence, profundity of significance, relationships within a pattern.”