A writer writes a book. People read it. You don't know what they're reading, really. You read a review and think, "That is so inaccurate. You can't have been reading my book with any kind of attention, because that is all wrong, that's even the wrong name you're including there." But these reviewers have been diminished in importance, the work is so little respected. If you're reviewed by a real critic, by James Wood or Louis Menand, then you get something that is informed, interesting, and highly articulate. But the average review doesn't have that kind of depth anymore.
I always knew writing a novel was a great thing. - James Salter
I always knew writing a novel was a great thing.
- James Salter
Certain things I remember exactly as they were. They are merely discolored a bit by time, like coins in the pocket of a forgotten suit. Most of the d… - James Salter
Certain things I remember exactly as they were. They are merely discolored a bit by time, like coins in the pocket of a forgotten suit. Most of the d…
Women fall in love when they get to know you. Men are just the opposite. When they finally know you they're ready to leave - James Salter
Women fall in love when they get to know you. Men are just the opposite. When they finally know you they're ready to leave
I like men who have known the best and the worst, whose life has been anything but a smooth trip. Storms have battered them, they have lain, sometime… - James Salter
I like men who have known the best and the worst, whose life has been anything but a smooth trip. Storms have battered them, they have lain, sometime…
I'm tired of my life, my clothes, the things I say. I'm hacking away at the surface, as at some kind of gray ice, trying to break through to what is … - James Salter
I'm tired of my life, my clothes, the things I say. I'm hacking away at the surface, as at some kind of gray ice, trying to break through to what is …
There is no complete life. There are only fragments. We are born to have nothing, to have it pour through our hands. And yet, this pouring, this floo… - James Salter
There is no complete life. There are only fragments. We are born to have nothing, to have it pour through our hands. And yet, this pouring, this floo…
Dialogue's a method of revelation, of course. A few words of dialogue can reveal worlds about a character. - James Salter
Dialogue's a method of revelation, of course. A few words of dialogue can reveal worlds about a character.
Normally, what you’re envious of is a book, not a writer: standards, ideas, levels … almost nonexistent things. - James Salter
Normally, what you’re envious of is a book, not a writer: standards, ideas, levels … almost nonexistent things.
What is the ultimate impulse to write? Because all this is going to vanish. - James Salter
What is the ultimate impulse to write? Because all this is going to vanish.
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