Motivations are too tangled and complex. Russell Banks More Quotes by Russell Banks More Quotes From Russell Banks A couple of years I taught in graduate programs at NYU and Columbia, in the early eighties. Russell Banks nyucoupleyears I began as a boy with artistic talent... as a visual artist... I thought that was what I'd become and in my late teens drifted into reading serious literature. Russell Banks artistreadingboys But on the other hand, I don't actively seek out stories or hunt them down. Russell Banks huntingstorieshands It's hard to spend years at a time working in total solitude with no reality-check. Russell Banks solituderealityyears Choose your agent as carefully as you would choose your accountant or lawyer. Or dentist. Russell Banks dentistagentslawyer The 60s passed and faded and I grew older, and in 1987 bought a house in upstate New York, and it turned out that John Brown was buried down the road from my house and that he had lived there longer than anywhere else and his house was still standing. Russell Banks john-brownnew-yorkhouse First of all it's usually women who run these higher primate sanctuaries, rarely men. They are white. They come from privileged backgrounds. They are educated. Russell Banks whiterunningmen John Brown first swam into my vision in the 1960s when I was a political activist in the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement at Chapel Hill, where I went to university. Russell Banks politicalrightswar The way I feel about every book is this: you don't finish it, you abandon it. All of my books have in some sense failed, otherwise I wouldn't write another one. If I wrote the perfect book, I wouldn't have to write again, and I wouldn't want to. That's not true for everyone, but it's true for me. I could walk away then. But so far I haven't managed to do it. Russell Banks perfectwritingbook What I am finding now is that my audience is getting younger as I get older, which is a very good thing as you know - you don't want them to get older as you get older. Russell Banks very-goodgood-thingswant Storytelling is an ancient and honorable act. An essential role to play in the community or tribe. It's one that I embrace wholeheartedly and have been fortunate enough to be rewarded for. Russell Banks rolescommunityplay The best thing about writing programs is that it rationalized the apprenticeship of a writer. Russell Banks apprenticeshipprogramwriting The United States particularly abandoned Liberia after the end of the Cold War. Russell Banks coldunited-stateswar I don't want it to be all that self-conscious or artificial, but it really grows out of my having invented myself as a listener so that I could hear her voice. Russell Banks hermyselfvoicewant So the same cultural and political issues that divided us in 1968 are still dividing us. Russell Banks ussamepoliticaldivided
