I try not to become too regular an addict of any one subculture. Jonathan Lethem More Quotes by Jonathan Lethem More Quotes From Jonathan Lethem I don't know why the world has changed so much that writers are now expected to appear in public and talk about their work. It's something I find very difficult. And yet, one does have some sense of responsibility towards one's publishers, to the people trying to sell the book. Jonathan Lethem responsibilitybookpeople Life is fundamentally up for grabs Jonathan Lethem life-is I'd have been a filmmaker or a cartoonist or something else which extended from the visual arts into the making of narratives if I hadn't been able to shift into fiction. Jonathan Lethem narrativefictionart I plan less and less. It's a great benefit of writing lots, that you get good at holding long narratives in your head like a virtual space. Jonathan Lethem spacewritinglong Poetry is supposed to be musical. But people don't understand prose. They're so used to reading journalism - clunky, functional sentences that convey factual information - facts, more than just the surfaces of things. Jonathan Lethem musicalreadingpeople I'd excluded New York from my writing, and then I came back and I fell in love with it all over again... The energy comes from an absence, that yearning for New York when you are not there. Jonathan Lethem energynew-yorkwriting I never take any notes or draw charts or make elaborate diagrams, but I hold an image of the shape of a book in my head and work from that mental hologram. Jonathan Lethem notesshapesbook I keep one simple rule that I only move in one direction - I write the book straight through from beginning to end. By following time's arrow I keep myself sane. Jonathan Lethem writingbookmoving I had always wanted to be a writer who confused genre boundaries and who was read in multiple contexts. Jonathan Lethem genreconfusedboundaries I just noticed recently that in one book after another I seem to find an excuse to find some character who, to put it idiotically simply, is allowed to talk crazy. Jonathan Lethem crazycharacterbook I got into underground comics fairly early on and kind of wandered away from the superhero stuff, but I was an art student and I was drawing a lot as a kid. Jonathan Lethem drawingkidsart However appalling to consider, however tedious to enact, every novel requires furniture, whether it is to be named or unnamed, for the characters will be unable to remain in standing position for the duration of the story. Jonathan Lethem durationstoriescharacter I've just finished reading Reality Hunger and I'm lit up by it-astonished, intoxicated, ecstatic, overwhelmed. . . . It really is an urgent book: a piece of art-making itself, a sublime, exciting, outrageous, visionary volume. Jonathan Lethem readingbookart So much of the effort that goes into writing prose for me is about making sentences that capture the music that I'm hearing in my head. It takes a lot of work, writing, writing, and rewriting to get the music exactly the way you want it to be. Jonathan Lethem effortwantwriting When people call something "original," 9 out of 10 times they just don't know the references or original sources involved. Jonathan Lethem sourceknowspeople I'm gregarious with writers and never with manuscripts . . . I [like to] create the illusion of seamless perfection, so I alone know the flawed homely process along the way. Jonathan Lethem illusionperfectionway In the sea of words, the in print is foam, surf bubbles riding the top. And it's a dark sea, and deep, where divers need lights on their helmets and would perish at the lower depths. Jonathan Lethem lightseadark There's something about the rhythms of language that correspond to the rhythms of our own bodies. Jonathan Lethem rhythmlanguagebody There's never any percentage in being ahead of your time. Jonathan Lethem percentages You discovered yourself and what really mattered only after you passed through the lens of the fairy tale, imposed on every human female and male alike, that someone existed out in the forest of the world for you to love and marry. Jonathan Lethem lensesmalesfemale
