I think that distance is good for some people for certain projects. I mean this is sort of a dynamic question. Some projects require more distance than others, some don't require it at all. Sometimes you need it and sometimes you don't.

Junot Diaz

Categorized in : Thinking Mean Distance

I think one of the paradoxes of writing fiction is when people enjoy it, they want it to be real. So they look for connections.

real writing thinking

I sleep way too much and I read tremendously. by Junot Diaz

I sleep way too much and I read tremendously.

too-much sleep way

I seem to have to make my characters family before I can access their hearts in any way that matters.

matter heart character

I seem to enjoy telling stories with a central absence, with a la... by Junot Diaz

I seem to enjoy telling stories with a central absence, with a lacuna tunnelled into them.

enjoy absence stories

I love “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” That was like the only black book we read in high school...

black book school

I grew up in the shadow of the Trujillato, saw how the regime had... by Junot Diaz

I grew up in the shadow of the Trujillato, saw how the regime had ravaged so many families.

saws shadow grew-up

I don't think you can be from the Caribbean and not know a certai... by Junot Diaz

I don't think you can be from the Caribbean and not know a certain amount about the apocalypse.

apocalypse certain thinking

Love is understood, in a historical way, as one of the great human vocations - but its counterspell has always been infidelity. This terrible, terrible betrayal that can tear apart not only another person, not only oneself, but whole families.

betrayal historical love-is

Like most lit nerds, I'm a voracious reader. I never got enough poetry under my belt growing up but I do read it - some of my favorites, Gina Franco and Angela Shaw and Cornelius Eady and Kevin Young, remind me daily that unless the words sing and dance, what's the use of putting them down on paper.

nerd growing-up use

There is a lot of scepticism today as to whether memoir is real. But when fiction is done at a certain level there is scepticism as to whether it is really fiction.

done real fiction

My thing is, I'm just way too harsh. It's an enormous impediment, and that's just the truth of it. It doesn't make me any better, make me any worse, it certainly isn't more valorous. I have a character defect, man.

character men way

One of the many characteristics of the new is that, at first, it's very hard to recognize it for what it is. We're lucky if we recognize something as being new when it first appears. Usually I think we don't have that privilege. It's usually after the fact that we suddenly turn around and say, 'Wow, this thing is amazing.'

wow lucky thinking

Migration gives a blank cheque to put anything you don't feel like addressing in the memory hold. No neighbours can go against the monster narrative of your family.

monsters giving memories

My thing is every generation of Americans has to answer what we call the 'Superman Question.' Superman comes, lands in America. He's illegal. He's one of these kids. He's wrapped up in a red bullfighter's cape. And you've got to decide what we're gonna do with Superman.

land kids america

I'm one of those apocalyptics. From the start of my immigrant days, I've been fascinated by end-of-the-world stories, by outbreak narratives, and always wanted to set a world-ender on Hispaniola.

narrative stories world

My novel, which I had started with such hope shortly after publishing my first book of stories, wouldn't budge past the 75-page mark. Nothing I wrote past page 75 made any kind of sense. Nothing. Which would have been fine if the first 75 pages hadn't been pretty damn cool.

stories book past

My mother took care of us until my father scrammed, and then she ended up working in the small-factory sector of New Jersey with a lot of other immigrants.

care mother father

In minority communities there's a sensitivity, often a knee-jerk reaction, to critical representations. There's a misunderstanding of what an artist does.

community artist doe

In the end, all worlds, whether they're set in the future or in New Jersey of today, are fictions. Sure, you don't got to do too much work to build a mundane world, but don't get it twisted: you still got to do some work.

today fiction world

My greatest responsibility is to acknowledge the mistakes and the shortcomings of the country in which I live, to acknowledge my privileges, and to try to make it a better place.

responsibility mistake country