However much, as readers, we lose ourselves in a novel or story, fiction itself is an experience on the order of memory -not on the order of actual occurrence.
Samuel R. DelanyRead
It is a magic book. Words mean things. When you put them together they speak. Yes, sometimes they flatten out and nothing they say is real, and that is one kind of magic. But sometimes a vision will rip up from them and shriek and clank wings clear as the sweat smudge on the paper under your thumb. And that is another kind.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the power of words and their ability to convey both reality and imagination.
Samuel R. Delany's quote reflects on the dual nature of language, highlighting how words can create meaningful expressions or fall flat. He suggests that while some combinations of words may lack authenticity, others can evoke vivid imagery and profound emotions, showcasing the transformative power of literature and storytelling.
In practice
In a literary analysis essay, one might cite this quote to discuss the importance of language in storytelling.
However much, as readers, we lose ourselves in a novel or story, fiction itself is an experience on the order of memory -not on the order of actual occurrence.
The only important elements in any society are the artistic and the criminal, because they alone, by questioning the society’s values, can force it to change.
How we treat our invalids - our mad, our physically or mentally compromised family members - does tell you something about who we are politically, historically, culturally.
The poems ... are moments when I had the intensity to see, and the energy to build, some careful analog that completed the seeing. ... All I have been left is the exhausting habit of trying to tack up the slack in my life with words.
I spend a lot of time thinking, if not daydreaming. People think of me as a genre writer, and a genre writer is supposed to be prolific. Since that's how people perceive me, they have to say I'm prolific. But I don't find that either complimentary or accurate.
All too often, when creative people pick out someone else's creative work as an inspiration, what they end up with is very, very far from the original.
The opportunity to create a small world between two pieces of cardboard, where time exists yet stands still, where people talk and I tell them what to say, is exciting and rewarding.
The act of writing a song involves a degree of letting go of yourself, and that's very much being a child.
There are those who write because they believe they have something so marvelous that it will make them famous and wealthy, a lauded commodity who will be invited to a lifetime of cocktail parties.
Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.
As a viewer, the minute I start getting confused, I check out of the movie. Emotionally, I'm severed.
Now I realize that from '72 through to about '76, I was the ultimate rock star. I couldn't have been more rock star.
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