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The characters in my novels are my own unrealised possibilities. That is why I am equally fond of them all and equally horrified by them. Each one has...more

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In Irena’s head the alcohol plays a double role: it frees her fantasy, encourages her boldness, makes her sensual, and at the same time it dims her me...more

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Those who had fought for what they called the revolution maintained a great pride: the pride of being on the correct side of the front lines. Ten or t...more

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The unification of the planet's history, that humanist dream which God has spitefully allowed to come true, has been accompanied by a process of dizzy...more

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I thought of the fate of Descartes’ famous formulation: man as ‘master and proprietor of nature.’ Having brought off miracles in science and technolog...more

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[mother] belonged to a realm of other creatures: smaller, lighter, more easily blown away.

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As I have pointed out before, characters are not born like people, of woman; they are born of a situation, a sentence, a metaphor containing in a nuts...more

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The beauty of New York rests on a completely different base. It's unintentional. It arose independent of human design, like a stalagmitic cavern. Form...more

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The longing for Paradise is man's longing not to be man.