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Quote by Teju Cole

“So, for a book set in 2006, Open City evades certain markers, while it embraces certain others. Julius doesn't use a smartphone, and he doesn't discuss contemporary US politics in any fine detail.”

Quote by Teju Cole

Author

Teju Cole, born on June 27, 1975, is a distinguished Nigerian-American writer known for his unique literary style and profound insights into contemporary social issues. His works, which include novels, photography, and essays, explore themes of race, identity, and globalization. Cole's debut novel, 'Every Day Is a Good Day,' won the 2008 National Book Award, and his photography and essays have also received widespread recognition, including the Photography Prize from The New Yorker magazine. more

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“Not explicitly, no. Compared to this enormous, relentless evolutionary activity in the built environment, writing is small potatoes.”

Writing Environment Activity Built Enormous Potatoes Relentless Built Environment

Author:Teju Cole

“tried to focus on a particular aspect of this historical moment: the failure of mourning. This is something I haven't seen a great deal of in the writing around this disaster. And my view is that you write about disaster by writing around it, by writing allusively.”

Writing Moments Views Deals Focus Havens Particular Aspect Historical Disaster Mourning

Author:Teju Cole

“There's a reticence necessary when you consider the suffering of others. Into the space created by that reticence, you bring in those things that best help us confront ambiguity: music, painting, film, and so on.”

Helping Film Suffering Space Painting Ambiguity Suffering Of Others Reticence

Author:Teju Cole

“It takes a few years to understand what we've lived through. At the moment, we're still sort of mired in the irrelevant bullshit. There isn't yet that public conversation about 9/11.”

Years Stills Moments Conversation Bullshit Irrelevant

Author:Teju Cole

“Our biggest art forms are film and television, and there hasn't been a great film about 9/11 yet, nor has there been a great television series. Something like The Wire gives us a rich and fully achieved picture of the wasteful, cruel War on Drugs; something like The White Ribbon gives a perspective on World War I that could only have been presented long after the event itself.”

World Giving Long Has Beens Art War Film Form White Rich Events Television Perspective Drug Series War Of The Worlds World War I Wire War On Drugs Ribbons Great Film Film And Television

Author:Teju Cole

“Not in this specific form. But all great cities are inhabited by ghosts. A book of this kind could probably be written about Jakarta, Manila, or London by anyone who had a feeling for the invisible truths of those places.”

Kind Book Feelings Form Cities Written London Invisible Ghost Great Cities Manila Jakarta

Author:Teju Cole

“It is a work of psychogeography, albeit in a less explicit sense than Iain Sinclair's or Will Self's. It had to be fiction though, because I needed that freedom of including whatever belonged, and cutting out whatever didn't. The main fiction in it was matching Julius' generous and self-concealing character to New York's generous and self-concealing character. I think this also adds to my answer about New York's personality in the book.”

Thinking Book Self Character Answers Fiction Cutting New York Personality Needed Add Including Generous Explicit Matching Julius Concealing

Author:Teju Cole

“Yes, there's a relaying of internal states that only a novel can achieve. In my view, the novel is one of Europe's greatest gifts to the world. America and Africa collaborated to give the world jazz. We'll call it even.”

World Giving States America Views Novel Achieve Europe Jazz Internals Greatest Gifts

Author:Teju Cole

“The strange thing, though, is that most people who write novels these days seem to be aware of only a fraction of its possibilities. Kundera goes on and on about this, and I never tire of reading him on the subject, because I agree very deeply with it.”

People Writing Seems Reading Novel Subjects Possibility Strange Goes On Agree These Days Tire Fractions Strange Things Very Deep

Author:Teju Cole

“At the emergence of the modern novel with Rabelais and Cervantes, all kinds of things were possible in a long-form prose work. Within a couple of hundred years, most of those possibilities were abandoned in favor of a text that efficiently transmitted sentiments.”

Years Kind Long Form Novel Modern Possibility Couple Hundred Favors All Kinds Prose Sentiments Abandoned Emergence Modern Novel

Author:Teju Cole