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Quote by Colson Whitehead

“Talking about New York is a way of talking about the world.”

Quote by Colson Whitehead

Book:The Colossus of New York

Work

The Colossus of New York

This book is a fictional narrative that delves into the complexities of life in New York City, examining the struggles and triumphs of its diverse inhabitants. The story weaves through various characters' lives, offering a rich tapestry of the city's cultural and social landscape. more

Author

Colson Whitehead

Colson Whitehead is an American novelist known for his distinctive literary style and profound insights into historical themes. His works cover a range of topics from slavery to modern urban life, with his 'New York Trilogy' and 'The Underground Railroad' being particularly notable. more

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“To put off the inevitable, we try to fix the city in place, remember it as it was, doing to the city what we would never allow to be done to ourselves. . . . New York City does not hold our former selves against us. Perhaps we can extend the same courtesy.”

Trying Doe Self Done Remember Cities New York Former Inevitable New York City Courtesy

Author:Colson Whitehead

“You are a New Yorker when what was there before is more real and solid than what is here now.”

Real New Yorkers

Book:The Colossus of New York

Source: The Colossus of New York

“Don’t go searching for a subject, let your subject find you. You can’t rush inspiration. … Once your subject finds you, it’s like falling in love. It will be your constant companion. Shadowing you, peeping in your windows, calling you at all hours to leave messages like, Only you understand me.”

Inspiration Fall Hours Subjects Calling Messages Window Constant Falling In Love Companion Leaving Me Understand Me Peeping

Author:Colson Whitehead

“Most literary critics agree that fiction cannot be reduced to mere falsehood. Well-crafted protagonists come to life, pornography causes orgasms, and the pretense that life is what we want it to be may conceivably bring about the desired condition. Hence religious parables, socialist realism, Nazi propaganda. And if this story likewise crawls with reactionary supernaturalism, that might be because its author longs to see letters scuttling across ceilings, cautiously beginning to reify themselves into angels. For if they could only do that, then why not us?”

Source: Europe Central

“The only way to know whats possible is to venture past impossible.”

Knows Way Past Impossible Venture

Author:Mary Gaitskill

“But now all the natural secrets have been exposed, and it is likely that the turtles have been sold to laboratory scientists who want to remove their shells so that they can wire electrodes to the turtles' skin in order to monitor their increasing terror at the loss of their shells.”

Want Has Beens Order Natural Loss Secret Skins Scientist Terror Remove Exposed Shells Wire Laboratory Turtles

Author:Mary Gaitskill

“Somebody once said to me if you want to be understood, don't write fiction.”

Ifs Want Writing Said Fiction Understood

Author:Mary Gaitskill

“Tragedy was foresworn, in ritual denial of the ripe knowledge that we are drawing away from one another, that we share only one thing, share the fear of belonging to another, or to others, or to God; love or money, tender equated in advertising and the world, where only money is currency, and under dead trees and brittle ornaments prehensile hands exchange forgeries of what the heart dare not surrender.”

World Heart Hands One Thing Tree Share Tragedy Dare Drawing Surrender Advertising Denial God Love Belonging Ritual Currency Ripe Ornaments Forgery Dead Trees

Book:The Recognitions: A Novel

Source: The Recognitions: A Novel

“What’s any artist, but the dregs of his work?”

Artist Dregs Shambles

Book:The Rush for Second Place: Essays and Occasional Writings

Source: The Rush for Second Place: Essays and Occasional Writings

“The things that stayed were things that didn't matter except they stayed, night and day, all seasons the same, and were peaceful to a fault and boded no ill but thought well enough of themselves to repeat their presences.”

Wells Matter Enough Night Seasons Faults Ill Peaceful Repeats

Author:William H. Gass