Self pity is easily the most destructive of the non-pharmaceutical narcotics; it is addictive, gives momentary pleasure and separates the victim from reality.
John GardnerRead
We read five words on the first page of a really good novel and we begin to forget that we are reading printed words on a page; we begin to see images.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the transformative power of literature, where words can create vivid mental images beyond the text.
John Gardner emphasizes the immersive experience that good literature can provide. As readers, we often lose ourselves in the narrative and visuals conjured by the words, transcending the physical act of reading and entering a world shaped by our imagination. This illustrates the profound impact of storytelling and the art of writing.
Themes
ReadingImaginationLiteratureStorytellingNovelImages
In practice
Example use cases
In a book club discussion, to explain the essence of how literature can transport readers.
More from John Gardner
All quotes →Fiction does not spring into the world fully grown, like Athena. It is the process of writing and rewriting that makes a fiction original, if not profound.
John GardnerRead
i understand that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. i understood that, finally and absolutely, i alone exist. all the rest, i saw, is merely what pushes me, or what i push against, blindly - as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back. i create the whole universe, blink by blink.
John GardnerRead
...ultimately it come down to, are you making or are you destroying? If you try very hard to create ways of living, create dreams of what is possible, then you win. If you don't, you may make a fortune in ten years, but you're not going to be read in twenty years, and that's that.
John GardnerRead
They watch on, evil, incredibly stupid, enjoying my destruction. 'Poor Grendel's had an accident,' I whisper. 'So may you all.
John GardnerRead
The true artist plays mad with his soul, labors at the very lip of the volcano, but remembers and clings to his purpose, which is as strong as the dream. He is not someone possessed, like Cassandra, but a passionate, easily tempted explorer who fully intends to get home again, like Odysseus.
John GardnerRead
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My work is about seeing - seeing things like they haven't been seen before.
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Maurice Sendak never - I remember he said something that was very striking because it's something I never thought about. I always loved his work, and he said, 'I don't really view myself as a children's book author. I just try and write about childhood as honestly as I can.'
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