I mean, every novel's a historical novel anyway. But calling something a historical novel seems to put mittens on it, right? It puts manners on it. And you don't want your novels to be mannered.
Colum MccannRead
The job of the writer is to look at where he is now and make some sort of emotional sense of it, not only for that moment but for years to come.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writers capture and interpret emotions and experiences to resonate with readers over time.
In this quote, Colum McCann emphasizes the essential role of a writer in understanding and articulating the complexities of their current experiences. A writer is tasked with not only capturing the emotional essence of a moment but also providing insight and meaning that can endure, allowing both the writer and the reader to reflect on those experiences for many years into the future.
Themes
WriterEmotionsInterpretationExperienceReflection
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the impact of literature on society, this quote can underline the significance of a writer's role.
More from Colum Mccann
All quotes →Goodness was more difficult than evil. Evil men knew that more than good men. That's why they became evil. That's why it stuck with them. Evil was for those who could never reach the truth. It was a mask for stupidity and lack of love. Even if people laughed at the notion of goodness, if they found it sentimental, or nostalgic, it didn't matter -- it was none of those things, he said, and it had to be fought for.
Colum MccannRead
She takes another long haul, lets the smoke settle in her lungs-- she has heard somewhere that cigarettes are good for grief. One long drag and you forget how to cry. The body too busy dealing with the poison.
Colum MccannRead
It was a silence that heard itself, awful and beautiful.
Colum MccannRead
It struck me that distant cities are designed precisely so you can know where you came from.
Colum MccannRead
And I suddenly think, as I look across the table at him, that these are the days as they will be. This is the future as we see it. The swerve and the static. The confidence and the doubt.
Colum MccannRead
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Looking up in the sky, I saw the stars were brighter now. They made a pattern I had never noticed before- a gleaming constellation that looked a lot like a girls figure- a girl with a bow, running across the sky. "Let the world honor you, my Huntress. Live forever in the stars.
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As a composer at a point where I can absolutely pick and choose what I want to do, I don't want to write about anybody I don't care about.
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If one means by style the voice, the irreducible and always recognizable and alive thing, then of course style is really everything.
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For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.
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I believe in plot, in development of character, in the effect of the passage of time, in a good story - better than something you might find in the newspaper. And I believe a novel should be as complicated and involved as you're capable of making it.
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