Home / Quotes / Quote by Geoff Dyer

Quote by Geoff Dyer

“Like most writers I spend a lot of my time sort of thinking, "It's such agony, I can't do it."”

Author

Geoff Dyer is a British writer known for his distinctive travel literature and essays. His works often use travel as a backdrop to explore themes of personal identity, cultural differences, and memory. more

“Nicholson Baker talks about the way in which the most successful nonfiction books are those that can be boiled down into an argument so that everybody can wade in with an opinion without having to undergo the inconvenience of having to read the book itself. The more you can condense it, the better.”

Book Opinion Successful Argument Inconvenience Nicholson

Author:Geoff Dyer

“For so long I didn't have any kind of readership at all - I'd get published, but not read - the idea of writing for an audience is so anathema to me, it's never bothered me.”

Writing Kind Long Audience Bothered

Author:Geoff Dyer

“I really like the George Clooney of Solaris also filmed by Andrei Tarkovsky, before Steven Soderbergh: that's very obviously sci-fi, and it seems to me a great film. But whatever pigeon-hole you put Stalker into you would both be increasing the risk of disappointing people and diminishing the film.”

People Film Risk Disappointing Great Film

Author:Geoff Dyer

“I don't like my books being defined by their "about"-ness. So now the subtitle has just become a kind of strap-line on the cover.”

Kind Book

Author:Geoff Dyer

“I think, about the distinction between fiction and nonfiction. Fiction is not really about anything: it is what it is. But nonfiction - and you see this particularly with something like the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction - nonfiction we define in relation to what it's about. So, Stalingrad by Antony Beevor. It's "about" Stalingrad. Or, here's a book by Claire Tomalin: it's "about" Charles Dickens.”

Thinking Book Relation Prize

Author:Geoff Dyer

“I like these nonfiction books where everything that is interesting about them is lost in that catch-all description of their "about"-ness.”

Book Interesting

Author:Geoff Dyer

“I think I've had pretty good experiences for the most part with the people who have directed my screenplays. It's more that I wanted to see what it would be like if I didn't have to collaborate with anybody, to have a sense of purity of the thing from beginning to end. I liked doing it. It's really different from writing. Directing is a more pragmatic experience, where you have to deal with the restrictions of time and money that force you to make certain decisions you don't have to make when you're writing.”

People Thinking Writing Different Decision Purity Pragmatic Time And Money

Author:Charlie Kaufman

“Directing was a big learning experience for me because I had to deal with every aspect of everything-all this constant decision-making, with people asking you questions at every moment, and you have to have answers for them all.”

People Moments Learning Experience

Author:Charlie Kaufman

“I have a background in theater, so I have experience with actors. I like actors - I used to be one.”

Author:Charlie Kaufman

Quote by Geoff Dyer

Author

You May Also Like