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Quote by Julian Barnes

“Iconic Paris tells us: here are our three-star attractions, go thou and marvel. And so we gaze obediently at what we are told to gaze at, without exactly asking why.”

Quote by Julian Barnes

Author

Julian Barnes, born on January 19, 1946, is a distinguished British writer. His works span across various genres including novels, essays, and criticism, known for their unique literary style and profound insights into human nature. more

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“In 1980, I published my first novel, in the usual swirl of unjustified hope and justified anxiety.”

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“In an oppressive society the truth-telling nature of literature is of a different order, and sometimes valued more highly than other elements in a work of art.”

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“In Britain I'm sometimes regarded as a suspiciously Europeanized writer, who has this rather dubious French influence.”

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“It took me some years to clear my head of what Paris wanted me to admire about it, and to notice what I preferred instead. Not power-ridden monuments, but individual buildings which tell a quieter story: the artist's studio, or the Belle Epoque house built by a forgotten financier for a just-remembered courtesan.”

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“Most of us remember adolescence as a kind of double negative: no longer allowed to be children, we are not yet capable of being adults.”

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“Often the grind of book promotion wearies you of your own book - though at the same time this frees you from its clutches.”

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“Paris is certainly one of the most boastful of cities, and you could argue that it has had a lot to boast about: at various times the European centre of power, of civilisation, of the arts, and (self-advertisingly, at least) of love.”

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“Reading and life are not separate but symbiotic. And for this serious task of imaginative discovery and self-discovery, there is and remains one perfect symbol: the printed book.”

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“Reading is a majority skill but a minority art. Yet nothing can replace the exact, complicated, subtle communion between absent author and entranced, present reader.”

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“The ways in which a book, once read, stays (and changes) in the reader's mind are unpredictable.”

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