Opening things up not closing them off is my job. I'm doing that for my reader. You know, Bob Gottlieb always says, "Criticism is a service industry.…

- Daniel Mendelsohn

You come out of the gate, you've got something new, you're subversive, nobody's ever done it before. But by your fifth novel and your fourth literary…

- Daniel Mendelsohn

Life is not bad, and it doesn't look more real if it's ugly or it's gritty. Think of your own life. Most of what's in your own life, hopefully, is ex…

- Daniel Mendelsohn

What if The Odyssey has no more validity or authenticity than one of the other stories that you hear Odysseus telling? Whoever created The Odyssey wa…

- Daniel Mendelsohn

I love things that are brave enough to be nakedly about what our lives are actually built of, when you're wild about someone, or you love something, …

- Daniel Mendelsohn

Gay people, certainly gay people of my generation, at least of a certain echelon - middle-class Americans - have binocular vision. We all are raised …

- Daniel Mendelsohn

Shopping as lifestyle is really a sub-cultural problem. When the strictures that set you apart or oppressed you, disappear, is there a way, legitimat…

- Daniel Mendelsohn

Repression is good for cultural achievement. Let's face it. What are gay boys going to be like? I always like to say the 19th-century gay boy was Osc…

- Daniel Mendelsohn

Closeness can lead to emotions other than love. It's the ones who have been too intimate with you, lived in too close quarters, seen too much of your…

- Daniel Mendelsohn