South African - Author | February 9, 1940 -
The idea of writer as sage is pretty much dead today. I would certainly feel very uncomfortable in the role.
J. M. Coetzee
TodayFeelUncomfortableDeadPretty
That has always seemed to me one of the stranger aspects of literary fame: you prove your competence as a writer and an inventor of stories, and then people clamour for you to make speeches and tell them what you think about the world.
PeopleMeWorldThinkYouFame
Strictly speaking, my interest is not in legal rights for animals but in a change of heart towards animals.
ChangeHeartLegalAnimalsRights
If there were a better, clearer, shorter way of saying what the fiction says, then why not scrap the fiction?
SayingBetterWhyWayFictionScrap
If it is indeed impossible - or at least very difficult - to inhabit the consciousness of an animal, then in writing about animals there is a temptation to project upon them feelings and thoughts that may belong only to our own human mind and heart.
HeartAnimalMindThoughtsWriting
I tend to resist invitations to interpret my own fiction.
My OwnFictionOwnInterpretResist
I see no marks of Wordsworths style of writing or style of thinking in my own work, yet Wordsworth is a constant presence when I write about human beings and their relations to the natural world.
WorkStyleWritingWorldThinking
I say that I represent this movement because my intellectual allegiances are clearly European, not African.
IntellectualSayMovementClearly
Elizabeth, Lady C, claims to be writing at the limits of language. Would it not be insulting to her if I were diligently to follow after her, explaining what she means but is not smart enough to say?
SmartWritingLimitsLanguageEnough
As you see, I do not treat the creation of fiction, that to say the invention and development of fantasies, as a form of abstract thought. I don't wish to deny the uses of the intellect, but sometimes one has the intuition that the intellect by itself will lead one nowhere.
TreatThoughtWishYouSometimes
As for September 11, let us not too easily grant the Americans possession of that date on the calendar. Like May 1 or July 14 or December 25, September 11 may seem full of significance to some people, while to other people it is just another day.
DayPeopleCalendarSome PeopleJuly
The end of confession is to tell the truth to and for oneself.
TruthEndConfessionTellOneself
Copyright © 2024 QuotesDict J. M. Coetzee quotes