“I never would have thought of that word, "hospitality." I settle into the rhythm of my steps.” Quote by Paul Auster
“I don't like that word [memoir]. Whenever my publishers have wanted to use it, I've told them to take it away.” UseWantedMemoirPublishers Author:Paul Auster
“Autobiographical writings, essays, interviews, various other things... All the non-fiction prose I wanted to keep, that was the idea behind this collected volume, which came out about few years ago. I didn't think of Winter Journal, for example, as an autobiography, or a memoir. What it is is a literary work, composed of autobiographical fragments, but trying to attain, I hope, the effect of music.” ThinkingWritingTryingYearsIdeasWantedBehindsFictionEffectsExampleYears AgoWinterVariousMemoirInterviewsProseVolumeJournalAutobiographyEssaysFragmentsNon FictionLiterary WorksWriting Essays Author:Paul Auster
“The mental state I'm in is completely different, but the act of trying to write is the same. I mean, in all instances you try to write good sentences. But in a novel you're free to do whatever you want, and in the autobiographical works you can't make things up.” WantWritingTryingMeanDifferentStatesNovelSentencesInstanceDo Whatever You Want Author:Paul Auster
“It's an ethical pact I've made with myself and with the reader - not to invent. And when I can't remember, I say I can't remember. I'm just appalled by the memoirs published by people who regurgitate dialogue, conversations from when they were small children, and they go on for three or four pages. I can't even remember what we said to each other ten minutes ago! How can I remember what was said sixty years ago? It's not possible.” PeopleYearsChildrenMadeSaidI CanRememberThreeFourMinutesGoes OnReaderTenConversationPagesYears AgoMemoirDialogueEthicalSixtySmall ChildPact Author:Paul Auster
“The things we remember are often things that have great emotional importance, and so they have a lasting effect.” RememberEffectsEmotionalImportanceLasting Author:Paul Auster
“As Siri says, who is deeply involved with neuroscience, emotion consolidates memory, and I think that's true.” ThinkingMemoriesEmotionInvolvedNeuroscience Author:Paul Auster
“I don't have all the facts. And I might misremember. As a matter of fact, after I finished Winter Journal, I realized that I'd gotten someone's name wrong.” MatterFactsMightNamesWinterFinishedI RealizedJournalMatter Of Fact Author:Paul Auster
“There's a difference between doing memoir and writing a novel. If I had put the story of the boy killing my dog - and that was Eric also, what a little monster he was! - in a novel, even if I took it directly from life, it would be fiction.” IfsWritingLittlesStoriesWould BeDifferencesFictionBoysNovelDogKillingMonstersMemoirMy DogEricDoing Me Author:Paul Auster
“I would say that Edgar Allan Poe, [Georges] Perec, Thomas Pynchon, and [Jorge Luis] Borges are all boy-writers. These are writers who take... a kind of demonic joy in writing.” WritingKindJoyBoysDemonicBorgesAllan Poe Author:Paul Auster
“[Lev] Tolstoy is not a boy-writer. He's a grown-up. And [Fedor] Doestoeivski is not a boy-writer.” BoysLev Tolstoy Author:Paul Auster