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Quote by Dodie Smith

“If someone even mentions his name it is like a little present to me - and I long to mention it myself. I start subjects leading up to it, and then I feel myself going red. I keep swearing to myself not to speak to him again - and then an opportunity occurs and I jump at it!”

Book:I Capture The Castle

Work

I Capture The Castle

This novel is a poignant exploration of the complexities of family dynamics, love, and the passage from childhood to adulthood. Narrated by a young girl, it offers a vivid portrayal of a family struggling with financial hardship and social status amidst the backdrop of a changing world. more

Author

Dodie Smith

Dodie Smith was an English novelist, best known for her children's literature, particularly the Winnie-the-Pooh series, which has become a global classic. Born on May 3, 1896, in London, she passed away on November 24, 1990. more

“There's a theme that appears in much of your work," I say to Maurice on my last visit to Connecticut, "and I can only hint at it because it's difficult to formulate or describe. It has something to do with the lines: 'As I went over the water/the water went over me' [from As I Went over the Water] or 'I'm in the milk and the milk's in me' [from Night Kitchen]." "Obviously I have one theme, and it's even in the book I'm working on right now. It's not that I have such original ideas, just that I'm good at doing variations on the same idea over and over again. You can't imagine how relieved I was to find out that Henry James admitted he had only a couple of themes and that all of his books were based on them. That's all we need as artists - one power-driven fantasy or obsession, then to be clever enough to do variations… like a series of variations by Mozart. They're so good that you forget they're based on one theme. The same things draw me, the same images…" "What is this one obsession?" "I'm not about to tell you - not because it's a secret, but because I can't verbalize it." "There's a line by Bob Dylan in 'Just Like a Woman' which talks about being 'inside the rain.'" "Inside the rain?" "When it's raining outside," I explain, "I often feel inside myself, as if I were inside the rain… as if the rain were my self. That's the sense I get from Dylan's image and from your books as well." "It's strange you say that," Maurice answers, "because rain has become one of the potent images of my new book. It sort of scares me that you mentioned that line. Maybe that's what rain means. It's such an important ingredient in this new work, and I've never understood what it meant. There was a thing about me and rain when I was a child: if I could summon it up in one sentence, I'd be happy to. It's such connected tissue…”

Rain Obsession Children S Literature Themes

Book:Pipers at the Gates of Dawn: The Wisdom of Children's Literature

Source: Pipers at the Gates of Dawn: The Wisdom of Children's Literature

“Be a little less obsessed with how I live my life and a little more obsessed with how you live your own.”

Pressure Obsession Judging Others Judgments Pressuring Others

Book:Single Dad Laughing: The Best of Year One

Source: Single Dad Laughing: The Best of Year One

“Redhead All over the house Strands of copper hair Like filaments from a cobweb Collect. If you and I Were ever to part— For months, perhaps years, I’d be combing out, Brushing or picking up Strands of significance, Traces of you In my life”

Memories Obsession Redhead Traces Vestiges

Author:john j geddes

“She came downstairs like a doe stepping into a clearing on the first day of hunting season. I felt like a coward. I was lower than dirt. I had used every trick in my book to get her to come downstairs. I had manipulated her emotions, cheated and wormed to beat her at this game we were playing. But then I saw her, and I was so happy. I knew I would have burned the building down for the sight of her running toward me out of the flames.”