Artists are not cheerleaders, and we're not the heads of tourism boards. We expose and discuss what is problematic, what is contradictory, what is hurtful and what is silenced in the culture we're in.
Junot DiazRead
We get so many people saying short fiction is not economical, that it doesn't sell; but there are so many of us enjoying writing it and reading it. So it's wonderful to be around people who love short fiction too - it's like hanging around with my tribe.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writing short fiction brings joy to both writers and readers, despite its commercial challenges.
Junot Diaz emphasizes the importance of passion over market trends in the world of short fiction. He suggests that while some view short fiction as economically unsustainable, the community of writers and readers who cherish it create a sense of belonging and fulfillment, likening it to being with one's 'tribe'.
Themes
Short FictionWritingCommunityPassionBelonging
In practice
Example use cases
In a writers' group discussing the value of different literary forms.
More from Junot Diaz
All quotes →Run a hand through your hair, like the white boys do, even though the only thing that runs easily through your hair is Africa.
Junot DiazRead
I can see myself watching him shave every morning. And at other time I see us in that house and see how one bright day (or a day like this, so cold your mind shifts every time the wind does) he will wake up and decide it's all wrong. I'm sorry, he'll say. I have to leave now.
Junot DiazRead
Migration gives a blank cheque to put anything you don't feel like addressing in the memory hold. No neighbours can go against the monster narrative of your family.
Junot DiazRead
We all dream dreams of unity, of purity; we all dream that there's an authoritative voice out there that will explain things, including ourselves.
Junot DiazRead
I think 90% of my ideas evaporate because I have a terrible memory and because I seem to be committed to not scribble anything down. As soon as I write it down, my mind rejects it.
Junot DiazRead
Similar quotes
If you think about the way we experience art, the paradigm is still Western European. If I go to the National Gallery, what am I going to see the most of? I'm not going to see a whole lot of black figures in pictures.
Kerry James MarshallRead
What's great about being a character actor is you know that you can survive forever. It's not about the gloss of your eyebrows.
Martin ShortRead
While photography is the easiest medium in which to be competent, it is the hardest in which to develop an idiosyncratic personal vision.
Chuck CloseRead
I have no interest in ever coming out. I’m just trying to make the pictures look good; I’m not into trying to make myself look good. And besides, it’s a pretty safe bet that the reality of me would be a crushing disappointment to a couple of 15-year-old kids out there.
BanksyRead
When I go to Comic-Cons and people line up for autographs, so many people have a story about how they are moved, how they get tearful about what 'Back To The Future' meant to them.
Christopher LloydRead
Good music is very close to primitive language.
Denis DiderotRead