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Quote by Jane Smiley

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A Thousand Acres: A Novel

A modern retelling of Shakespeare's 'King Lear', this novel delves into the complex relationships between a farming family and the consequences of their actions, set against the backdrop of a changing agricultural landscape. more

Author

Jane Smiley
Jane Smiley

Jane Smiley is an accomplished American novelist known for her profound character development and rich imagination. Her works span a variety of literary genres, including historical fiction, contemporary life, and children's literature. Her novels, such as 'A Thousand Acres' and 'Bluebird', have received widespread acclaim. more

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“The novel as a form is usually seen to be moral if its readers consider freedom, individuality, democracy, privacy, social connection, tolerance and hope to be morally good, but it is not considered moral if the highest values of a society are adherence to rules and traditional mores, the maintenance of hierarchical relationships, and absolute ideas of right and wrong. Any society based on the latter will find novels inherently immoral and subversive.”

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Book:Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel
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“When I went to first grade and the other children said that their fathers were farmers, I simply didn't believe them. I agreed in order to be polite, but in my heart I knew that those men were impostors, as farmers and as fathers, too. In my youthful estimation, Laurence Cook defined both categories. To really believe that others even existed in either category was to break the First Commandment.”

MenFirstsBelieveHeartChildrenSaidOrderFatherBreakMy HeartDefinedCooksGradesCategoriesFarmersCommandmentsPoliteEstimation
Author:Jane Smiley
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“Tears are copiously showered over frailties the discoverer takes a malicious delight in circulating; and thus, all granite on one side of the heart, and all milk on the other, the unsexed scandal-monger hies from house to house, pouring balm from its weeping eyes on the wounds it inflicts with its stabbing tongue.”

HeartEyeHouseSidesTearsDelightTongueWoundsMilkScandalWeepingPouringFrailtyMaliciousGraniteStabbing
Book:Literature and life, lects
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