We are taught that we can be better than we are. But is there a limit to how good we can be? David Bezmozgis More Quotes by David Bezmozgis More Quotes From David Bezmozgis Amity Gaige has written a flawless book. It does not contain a single false note. Playful and inventive, SCHRODER movingly depicts the ways we confound our own hearts--how even with the best intentions, we fail to love those closest to us as well as we wish we could. Eric Schroder should take his place among the most charismatic and memorable characters in contemporary fiction, and Amity Gaige her place among the most talented and impressive writers working today. David Bezmozgis memorable heart book When you write a book, you want to have fidelity to the character. Characters and their emotions guide the structure of the novel. The author is aware that there's a certain amount of information she/he has to provide in order to satisfy the reader, knowing that she/he has set something up that must be paid off, but this payment must be made while maintaining fidelity to the characters. David Bezmozgis writing character book I spent seven years writing The Free World. There are a lot of things I accomplished there that I'm very proud of, but I didn't want to spend another seven years writing a book like that. David Bezmozgis writing book years If the fidelity [ in a book] isn't maintained, the reader will think your structure is extraneous, or superficial, or that you're trying to curry favor, or live up to the expectations of some sort of genre or structure. David Bezmozgis expectations book thinking When you write a book, you want to have fidelity to the character. Characters and their emotions guide the structure of the novel. David Bezmozgis writing character book I think even with women who come across with a tough exterior, the interior is the same. I think you'll find this with women around the word: some women, because of their circumstances, are forced to be tougher, forced to cultivate tougher exteriors. David Bezmozgis tough circumstances thinking I think there are differences between men and women. There is more of a softness to women than there is to men, especially when it comes to those more intimate emotions: feeling love, feeling familial connections. David Bezmozgis differences men thinking In my experience of women, women have a greater capacity. Maybe women, even very pragmatic ones, are less guarded about showing emotions. David Bezmozgis men-women emotion capacity I think ex-Soviet or Russian-Jewish women are tougher and that comes through. And if they are more pragmatic than the men, it's because they are obliged to be. They have all the female responsibilities and all the male responsibilities. David Bezmozgis responsibility men thinking It's not for the writer to say whether the thing is successful or not. David Bezmozgis successful I believe I'm very conscious of exactly what I'm doing. I'm auditioning lines of dialogue, and I'm interrogating whether the lines would translate from Russian into English the right way. The English that results can perhaps seem somewhat more formal than colloquial, but not so formal as to feel academic. David Bezmozgis lines believe way Nothing is easy in writing. I don't think for anyone. But dialogue is probably what comes most naturally to me. David Bezmozgis easy writing thinking I think every book is a reaction to everything you're written before, and most immediately to the book you wrote just before. David Bezmozgis reactions book thinking Writing a novel, in an unplanned and unpredictable way, makes you engaged; it takes you into yourself, and it becomes something between you and the character for a moment, and then you move back into the structure of the book. I love those moments, because they are completely unbidden. David Bezmozgis character book moving When writing dialogue, I hear it in both Russian and English, and try to find a language that combines the two. David Bezmozgis writing trying two Language is a personality as well. People are different when they speak different languages. David Bezmozgis different personality people Maybe the most provocative thing one can do - and I'm not the first one to do it - is to ask the moral and philosophical question: why are some people better than others? Why are some people more moral than others? David Bezmozgis philosophical people firsts Incident at Vichy, one of my favorite Arthur Miller plays, is a play in which you look at all of the different perspectives of this moral question. And it isn't so easy to decide which position is correct. David Bezmozgis perspective different play There are books like Darkness at Noon, which from the prose standpoint I don't think is a perfect book. It has flaws. But for its time, it was very politically courageous. David Bezmozgis perfect book thinking There are books where you can really see the moral question, which I think we answer every day for ourselves, in every interaction we have with people, to a lesser or greater degree. David Bezmozgis book people thinking
