The Curious Incident of the Quotes in the Night-Time*

posted by Emily Gordon

“Someone once said to me that reading Lorrie Moore is like being tickled to death.”
—Deborah Treisman, New Yorker fiction editor

“I revise all the time, so loving something doesn’t always occur to me. Loving something that you’ve written is probably a bad sign.”
—Moore on contentment with one’s work

Question for Moore: “How do you know so much about relationships, about women’s friendships?”
Moore: “I have your phone tapped.”

“This is the frantic, misanthropic part of the evening.”
—Jonathan Franzen

“Nonfiction’s easier. Basically. To be perfectly honest.”
—Franzen on whether it’s easier to write fiction or nonfiction

“I did not ascend directly into heaven.”
—Franzen on finishing his first book; question, which he and Zadie Smith both liked, was about the jarring transition between straining to finish the first book and then suddenly realizing writing is your job

*All quotes fairly accurate but scrawled quickly in the dark. Anyone with a transcript is encouraged to submit fixes.

25 September 2005 | uncategorized |