The process of book writing for me is entirely one of trial and error. Geoff Dyer More Quotes by Geoff Dyer More Quotes From Geoff Dyer We are moving beyond the non-fiction novel to different kinds of narrative art, different forms of cognition. Loaded with moral and political point, narrative has been recalibrated to record, honour, and protest the latest historically specific instance of futility and mess. Geoff Dyer moral political art moving I am still moved by passages of Marx: the 'Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right,' for example, where, after the famous line about religion being 'the opium of the people,' he goes on to call it 'the heart of a heartless world.' Geoff Dyer i-am heart people religion Contrary to popular belief, Oxford has the highest concentration of dull-witted, stupid, narrow-minded people anywhere in the British Isles. Geoff Dyer concentration belief stupid people Have you ever stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai? I'd warmly recommend it. It's super luxurious, and right next door, there's a classic slum. So you can do a quick slum tour and get back to your sanctuary without any inconvenience but with some excellent snaps. Geoff Dyer door you hotel seasons Borrowing something from one art form and relocating it in another always has a whiff of pretension about it, like in books if, instead of 'Chapter One,' you have 'First Movement.' Geoff Dyer chapter you always art It's one of these things that I've been struck by for so long about America. You know, this amazing politeness of American life that's not at all class specific. It's not like people get more polite as ascend the hierarchy of society. Just incredible good manners. It's always been something that I've noticed. Geoff Dyer good you life people In history books, or the one about the guy who cut his hand off to get out of a canyon in Utah, you really want them to be accurate. But my stuff is such small beer by comparison. Geoff Dyer small you beer history It really doesn't matter if it happened exactly how I say it happened. Geoff Dyer say how happened matter I didn't get on a plane until I was 23, after I left Oxford and was teaching at Lucy Clayton Secretarial College in London. Geoff Dyer get left london college I think I got into travelling because it was so not in my blood, so against my tendency to just stay put because my dad just hated going on holidays, because, as I've said in many essays, the thing that he hated more than anything else in life was spending money. And as soon as you leave your home, you're spending money. Geoff Dyer you money home life The lesson of travel seems to be so banal, but so great, which is that people are just so amazingly decent the world over. Given the disparity of income and wealth, it's amazing not just that you don't get robbed everywhere - it's amazing you don't get eaten. Geoff Dyer great you people travel People never read my books for the quality of the documentary value. Geoff Dyer value never quality people I could never write a book where the point-of-view character was a short person, because I just can't imagine what that's like. Geoff Dyer short never character book I do understand my limitations as a fiction writer, which is why my novels are always going to be close to home. Geoff Dyer why understand always home When I started writing, the deal was that publishers gave you a grand or two as an advance to buy some sweets, with the promise that they would make a big putsch with your fourth book when you'd built up a bit of a following. But by the time my fourth book came out, previously unpublished authors were the new big thing. Geoff Dyer new you time book If you just take me as a fiction writer, then you're probably going to find me fairly limited. Geoff Dyer find just me you I don't read 'genre' fiction if that means novels with lots of killing and shooting. Even Cormac McCarthy's 'No Country for Old Men' seemed pretty childish in that regard. Geoff Dyer childish shooting men country I didn't read much of anything till I was 15, except Alistair MacLean and Michael Moorcock - the sword and sorcery novels - when I was about 13 or 14. Geoff Dyer sword except about anything I'm as strong and supple as a pane of thin glass. I've got too many ailments - left shoulder, left elbow and left wrist - in fact, the whole of the left arm. Geoff Dyer glass shoulder left strong I'm incredibly competitive in all sports in a way that is so mystifying to my wife because she grew up playing the violin and piano. I've always been like that. Geoff Dyer always wife sports way
