I gradually became aware that my interiority was inseparable from my exteriority, that the geography of my city was the geography of my soul. Aleksandar Hemon More Quotes by Aleksandar Hemon More Quotes From Aleksandar Hemon I wish I could avoid the people who have threatened me. My favorite threat is that I will be thrown in the River Miljacka, which is at most knee-deep, with my feet bound in cement. Aleksandar Hemon feet rivers people The privilege of a middle-class, stable, bourgeois life is that you can pretend that you are not complicated and project yourself as a solid, uncomplicated person, with refined life goals and achievements. Aleksandar Hemon achievement goal class When I came to America, I was already a writer, already published in Bosnia. I was planning to go back, but I had no choice but to stay here after the civil war, so I enrolled at Northwestern in a master's program and studied American literature. Aleksandar Hemon choices war america Washington D.C.! Congress is full of self-declared outsiders. Aleksandar Hemon outsiders congress self I suppose I'm interested in sorrow, which is very different from depression or despair. Sorrow is continuous with the world; it allows for creativity. Aleksandar Hemon despair creativity sorrow To me there's no difference between a book of stories and a novel - they're just slightly different shapes. Aleksandar Hemon differences shapes book New York is the Hollywood of the publishing industry, complete with stars, starlets, suicidal publishers/producers, intrigues, and a lot of money. Aleksandar Hemon suicidal stars new-york I long for, not a writer's retreat - I can write in any situation - but a reader's retreat. Aleksandar Hemon retreat writing long The hopeless hope is one of the early harbingers of spring, bespeaking an innocent belief that the world might right its wrongs and reverse its curses simply because the trees are coming into leaf. Aleksandar Hemon spring tree world I did not intend to stay; I had no experience in the United States - I may have been here less than 24 hours - but I knew I would never get inside there. And 'there' not being America necessarily, but that harmonious mode of living that some people are lucky enough to have in this country. Aleksandar Hemon country america people I cannot stand that whole game of confession, that is: Here I have sinned, now I'm confessing my sins, and describing my path of sin and then in the act of confession I beg for your forgiveness and redemption. Aleksandar Hemon redemption path games Memory narrativises itself. Aleksandar Hemon memories Outsider means "I will accept the possibility that I don't have responsibility for what is happening inside my domain." Aleksandar Hemon outsiders responsibility mean Because sometimes you have no control over life and it keeps you far away from who you love. Aleksandar Hemon far-away sometimes There is a logic [to my reading], but I can't define it. I like reading impulsively. I collect books, I have a lot of them, but most of them I have not read yet. I'll read them when they call me from the shelf. Aleksandar Hemon logic reading book I am just like everybody else...because there is nobody like me in the whole world. Aleksandar Hemon nobody-likes-me like-me world Politics imagined as direct agency, whether by voting or by participating in politics, you can think you're not political because you don't do anything between elections. Aleksandar Hemon voting agency thinking It seemed that we loved each other better when there were large swaths of two continents between us. The daily work of love was often hard to perform at home. Aleksandar Hemon distance home two I recognized him then; that is, I finally comprehended what I had known but had never been able to formulate: he had always been complete. He had finished the work of becoming himself, long before any of us could even imagine such a feat was possible. Aleksandar Hemon becoming able long The world is always greater than your desires; plenty is never enough. Aleksandar Hemon contentment desire world
