The writer is the person who stands outside society, independent of affiliation and independent of influence.
Don DelilloRead
I like the construction of sentences and the juxtaposition of words-not just how they sound or what they mean, but even what they look like.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the beauty and complexity of language beyond just sound and meaning.
Don Delillo expresses an appreciation for the intricacies of language, highlighting how the construction of sentences and the arrangement of words contribute to their overall aesthetic and impact. He suggests that the visual aspect of words and their juxtaposition is as important as their auditory and semantic properties, reflecting a deep reverence for the art of writing.
In practice
In a lecture on creative writing, this quote can illustrate the importance of word choice and arrangement.
The writer is the person who stands outside society, independent of affiliation and independent of influence.
War is the form nostalgia takes when men are hard-pressed to say something good about their country.
American writers ought to stand and live in the margins, and be more dangerous.
For me, writing is a concentrated form of thinking.
I used to think it was possible for an artist to alter the inner life of the culture. Now bomb-makers and gunmen have taken that territory.
[I]n the American soul there is a lonely individual standing in a vast landscape. β¨He is either on a horse or driving a car, depending, and either way heβs carrying a gun. β¨This is one of the essential images in American mythology.
And little he knew of the things that ink may do, how it can mark a dead man's thought for the wonder of later years, and tell of happening that are gone clean away, and be a voice for us out of the dark of time, and save many a fragile thing from the pounding of heavy ages; or carry to us, over the rolling centuries, even a song from lips long dead on forgotten hills.
No art ever survived censorship; no art ever will.
The men resent a woman getting any honour in what they consider is essentially their field. Men painters mostly despise women painters. So I have decided to stop squirming, to throw any honour in with Canada and women.
I said Yo Jay, I can rap. And I spit this rap that said I'm killin' ya'll *****s on this lyrical sh*t, mayonnaise colored benz, I push miracle whips.
The symbol of all art is the Prism. The goal is unrealism. The method is destructive. To break up the white light of objective realism, into the secret glories which it contains.
All the seven deadly sins are peccadilloes but without three of them, Pride, Lust, and Sloth, poetry might never have been born.
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