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Quote by Pankaj Mishra

“The people who encouraged me weren't necessarily writers or readers themselves. They were people who were just pleased to see me devote my life to reading and writing.”

Quote by Pankaj Mishra

Author

Pankaj Mishra is an Indian-born British essayist and historian, recognized for his insightful and critical essays on history, politics, and culture. Born in 1969, he has gained attention for his exploration of the complexities of modernity and its effects on the world. more

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“There is a lot of anxiety in India about writers selling out to foreign audiences, but I’m neither flattering the Indian audience nor the American audience. I’m uneasily somewhere in the middle.”

Audience Middle Anxiety India Selling Indian Flattering Selling Out

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“The internet has created a transnational audience. If you publish something in the New York Times, it's read all over the world. Who knows how big this audience is or how long it will last.”

Ifs Knows World Long Bigs Lasts Audience Know How New York Internet Publish New York Times

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“The act of writing should not be accompanied by the sense of an audience, someone peering over your shoulder, but in nonfiction I think it’s almost imperative that you identify an audience so you can confirm or challenge or undermine whatever ideas or prejudices they might have about your subject.”

Thinking Should Writing Ideas Might Challenges Audience Subjects Prejudice Shoulders Over You Nonfiction Imperatives

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“When I moved to London in the 1990s, it had changed a great deal. Racism had become deeply uncool. But there has been a return of racism in the guise of "antiterrorism." People who look like myself are immediately suspect. I've become extremely self-conscious about going into crowded public places.”

People Looks Has Beens Self Deals Changed Return Racism Conscious Moved London Suspects Crowded Self Conscious Guise Uncool

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“The whole Hollywood conception of Tibet as this peace-loving country denies the complex humanity of the Tibetan people. Their ideas exist in a high degree of tension with impulses toward corruption, toward violence, toward all sorts of things. The Dalai Lama himself would say that he has to fight these impulses himself on a daily basis.”

People Ideas Country Whole Humanity Fighting Violence Degrees Hollywood Bases Complexes Corruption Deny Impulse Tension Conception Tibetan Lama Tibet Dalai

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“If you belong to a small country that is geopolitically not that important, or strategically not that important, you have no place among nations. Those countries are neglected and left to fend for themselves.”

Ifs Important Country Left Nations Neglected Small Countries

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“My dad grew up basically in a hut in Taiwan without enough food to eat. And within one generation his son in America gets to do a comedy show about whatever he wants.”

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“I was very ambitious at a young age. When I was six, I would tell everybody that I wanted to be an authoress.”

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“It never occurred to me to be a film director, partly because I hadn't seen a single film by a female director, but I liked the idea of being a writer moving to Hollywood and being unhappy; that sounded romantic and fabulous to me.”

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“I grew up interested in the underside of Hollywood, which I think David Lynch does really well.”

Thinking Wells Doe Grew Grew Up Hollywood

Author:Mary Harron