To me, there is nothing higher than fiction. Nothing. It is fundamentally who I am. I am a teller of stories. For me, that's the only way I can make sense of the world, with all the dance that it involves.
When I decided to write 'The God of Small Things', I had been working in cinema. It was almost a decision to downshift from there. I thought that 300 people would read it. But it created a platform of trust.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the author's choice to transition from cinema to writing, expecting limited readership but discovering the deeper impact of her work.
Arundhati Roy's quote highlights her pivotal decision to shift from a career in cinema to writing literature, specifically her novel 'The God of Small Things.' She initially underestimates the reach and influence her writing would have, believing only a small audience would engage with her work. However, she acknowledges that this decision led to a 'platform of trust,' suggesting that literature can establish meaningful connections with readers that transcends her expectations.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a writing workshop, the facilitator quoted Arundhati Roy to inspire attendees to overcome their fears of sharing their work.
More from Arundhati Roy
All quotes →When she listened to songs that she loved on the radio, something stirred inside her. A liquid ache spread under her skin, and she walked out of the world like a witch.
Caste is about dividing people up in ways that preclude every form of solidarity, because even in the lowest castes, there are divisions and sub-castes, and everyone's co-opted into the business of this hierarchical, silo-ised society.
In California, there are huge problems because of dams. I'm against big dams, per se, because I think that they are economically unfeasible. They're ecologically unsustainable. And they're hugely undemocratic.
To call someone 'anti-American', indeed, to be anti-American, is not just racist, it's a failure of the imagination.
The trouble is that once you see it, you can't unsee it. And once you've seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There's no innocence. Either way, you're accountable.
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I don't photograph life as it is, but life as I would like it to be.
Cubism did not accept the logical consequences of its own discoveries; it was not developing abstraction towards its own goal, the expression of pure reality.
As a viewer, the minute I start getting confused, I check out of the movie. Emotionally, I'm severed.
I'm always trying to reach a transcendent point, a romantic point, but reach it in a really unconventional way, a really profane way. To get to that romantic, touching, heartbreaking place, but through a lot of acts of profanity.