Gary Snyder, “The Art of Poetry N° 74” by Eliot Weinberger, The Paris Review 141 (Winter 1996)
INTERVIEWER
So you think people should read the margins of your books?
SNYDER
This is an oral art. They should listen to the unsaid words that resonate around the edge of the poem.
Blaise Cendrars, “The Art of Fiction N°38” by Michel Manoll, The Paris Review 37 (Spring 1966)
I’m not an extraordinary worker, I’m an extraordinary daydreamer. I exceed all my fantasies — even that of writing.
Joan Didion, “The Art of Fiction N° 71” by Linda Kuehl, The Paris Review Fall-Winter 1978
I start a book and I want to make it perfect, want it to turn every color, want it to be the world. Ten pages in, I’ve already blown it, limited it, made it less, marred it. That’s very discouraging. I hate the book at that point. After a while I arrive at an accommodation: Well, it’s not the ideal, it’s not the perfect object I wanted to make, but maybe — if I go ahead and finish it anyway — I can get it right next time. Maybe I can have another chance.
Joan Didion, “The Art of Fiction N° 71” by Linda Kuehl, The Paris Review Fall-Winter 1978
The minute you start putting words on paper you’re eliminating possibilities. Unless you’re Henry James.
John Ashbery, “The Art of Poetry N° 33” by Peter A. Stitt, The Paris Review Winter 1983
Reading is a pleasure, but to finish reading, to come to the blank space at the end, is also a pleasure.
Karl Ove Knausgaard, “Completely Without Dignity: An Interview With Karl Ove Knaudgaard” by Jesse Barron, The Paris Review 3 July 2013
In Min Kamp, I wanted to see how far it was possible to take realism before it would be impossible to read. My first book had a strong story, strong narration. Then I would see how far I could take a digression out before I needed to go back to the narration, and I discovered I could go for thirty or forty pages, and then the digressions took over. So in Min Kamp I’m doing nothing but digressions, no story lines.
Roberto Calasso, “The Art of Fiction 217,” The Paris Review 202, Fall 2012
When looking for a book, you may discover that you were in fact looking for the book next to it.
James Baldwin, “The Art of Fiction No 78,” The Paris Review 91 Spring 1984
You never get the book you wanted, you settle for the book you get.
Yves Bonnefoy, “The Art of Poetry No 69,” interview by Shusha Guppy, The Paris Review 131 Summer 1994
[T]here is nothing before language, for there is no consciousness, and therefore no world, without a system of signs. In fact, it is the speaking-being that has created this universe, even if language excludes him from it. This means that we are deprived through words of an authentic intimacy with what we are, or with what the Other is. We need poetry, not to regain this intimacy, which is impossible, but to remember that we miss it and to prove to ourselves the value of those moments when we are able to encounter other people, or trees, or anything, beyond words, in silence. [via]
“I write because I hate. A lot. Hard.”
– William Gass, “The Art of Fiction 65,” interview by Thomas LeClair, The Paris Review 70 Summer 1977
ANDREW GALLIX 