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Quote by Ben Fountain

“It took me 10 years to write a story that pleased me - that I could look at after it was published and not cringe.”

Quote by Ben Fountain

Author

Ben Fountain is an American fiction writer known for his distinctive narrative style and profound insights into American Southern culture. His works often focus on the complex relationships between individuals and society, history, and reality, particularly in depicting the impact of war and conflict on individuals. more

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“I kept going back while I was writing the novel - which never sold, may it rest in peace - and by the time it was finished I had too many connections to Haiti to walk away.”

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Author:Ben Fountain

“It's amazing what happens when you stick yourself in a place and let things take their more or less natural course.”

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Author:Ben Fountain

“Haiti is unique - the first successful slave revolt in history, the first black republic etc., and then when you get into the culture, the voodoo, and that wonderful synchretization of Christian and African belief and symbology, it's like nothing the world has ever seen.”

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Author:Ben Fountain

“Eruptions of talent continue to happen in Haiti, in spite of everything.”

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Author:Ben Fountain

“You have the mainstream bourgeois life of the U.S., Europe, the "developed" world - the life of technology, education, mortgages, careers, a certain level of physical comfort - while on the other hand, several billion people on the planet exist on less than a dollar a day. That's a huge and terrible reality to get your head around.”

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Author:Ben Fountain

“A person deprived of beauty and pleasure puts me in mind of the Haitian notion of a zombie - a person disconnected from his or her soul, a person who works for others' profit but never his own, a person who mindlessly does the bidding of the boss and exists in an emotional and mental limbo.”

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Author:Ben Fountain

“If a person wants to be of any use to himself, he better insist on getting his fair share of beauty and pleasure, and if there's something about the system that's keeping him from getting his share, then I think he's well within his rights to fight to change that.”

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Author:Ben Fountain

“I got brilliant stories from people who'd never set foot in an MFA program and had published very little, and terrible stories from people who'd published a lot and had all the credentials. It was all over the map and that was part of the fun.”

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Author:Ben Fountain

“I'm a writer, not an editor, and though the editing rarely cut into my writing time, it did take away from that walking-around-thinking-about-it-when-you're-not-thinking-about-it time that I think is important for writers. When you're half-thinking about what you're working on while driving, cooking . . . just letting things sift and settle, come to you.”

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Author:Ben Fountain

“For me, it was definitely an education in being grateful. And appreciating the civil liberties we have today, the natural liberties we have at home.”

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