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Quote by Claire Messud

“Does Being Happy simply Create More Time, in the way that Being Sad, as we all know, slows time and thickens it, like cornstarch in a sauce?).”

Quote by Claire Messud

Book:The Woman Upstairs

Work

The Woman Upstairs

This book delves into the emotional and psychological journey of a woman, examining her interactions with family, friends, and the community around her. more

Author

Claire Messud is an American novelist known for her profound psychological portrayals and complex character development. Her works often explore the lives, emotions, and identities of modern women. more

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“I wanted to write a voice that for me, as a reader, had been missing from the chorus: the voice of an angry woman.”

Writing Wanted Voice Missing Reader Angry Chorus Angry Women

Author:Claire Messud

“I’m not a writing group member, not a joiner in that way. I don’t seek a wide swath of feedback.”

Way Writing Groups Members Wide Feedback

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“If I had to summarize, most broadly, my concerns as a writer, I'd say the question 'How then must we live?' is at the heart of it, for me.”

Ifs Heart Concern

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“The more accurately one can illuminate a particular human experience, the better the work of art.”

Humans Art Particular Works Of Art Human Experience

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“The professor husband of a friend of mine has likened children to the insane. I often think of it. He says that children live on the edge of madness, that their behavior, apparently unmotivated, shares the same dream logic as crazy people's. I see what he means, and because I've learned to be patient with children, to tease out the logic that's always somewhere there, and irrefutable once explained.”

People Thinking Mean Children Dream Share Crazy Mines Husband Behavior Logic Madness Patient Edges Insane I've Learned Professors Be Patient Tease Crazy People Unmotivated

Book:The Woman Upstairs

Source: The Woman Upstairs

“Yes, writing is essential to me. It's my way of living in the world.”

World Way Writing Essentials My Way

Author:Claire Messud

“I was funny -- ha-ha, not peculiar. It was a modest currency, like pennies: pedestrian, somewhat laborious, but a currency nonetheless. I was funny, in public, most often at my own expense.”

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Author:Claire Messud

“An abiding preoccupation for me is how much of our lives are invisible and unknown by other people like the Chekhov story The Lady With the Little Dog.”

People Littles Stories Our Lives Dog Invisible Abiding Preoccupation Chekhov

Author:Claire Messud

“Bore children, and they stop reading. There's no room for self-indulgence or showing off or setting the scene.”

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Author:Mark Haddon

“To experience sublime natural beauty is to confront the total inadequacy of language to describe what you see. Words cannot convey the scale of a view that is so stunning it is felt.”

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Author:Eleanor Catton