Night scene
George Saunders on Daniil Kharms
Stories are, in a sense, a scam. There was never a clerk as unconflicted, docile and pathetic as Akaki Akakievich, but from the subterfuge that such a man could exist, Gogol made the wonder that is The Overcoat. Ghosts don’t show up to save the stingy, and many stingy die unsaved, but a stingy guy stayed stingy, then died is not a story, and is certainly not A Christmas Carol. Princes don’t invite their entire kingdoms to the palace, but if at least one doesn’t, our story is Once upon a time Cinderella miserably cleaned, forever and ever.
Photography is easy, photography is difficult, by Paul Graham
It’s so difficult because it’s everywhere, every place, all the time, even right now. It’s the view of this pen in my hand as I write this, it’s an image of your hands holding this book. Drift your consciousness up and out of this text and see: it’s right there, across the room – there… and there. Then it’s gone.
Jerry Saltz with Irving Sandler
I don’t even really think of myself as a writer; I think I’m more of a folk-critic, a raw nerve, or a loudmouth. I agree with the sportswriter Red Smith who wrote, ‘Writing is easy: You sit down at a typewriter put a piece of paper in… and open a vein.’ For me there is no such thing as writing. There is only re-writing.
David Lynch Interview Project
Whoa, this thing is really filling out.
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