Latest John Edgar Wideman Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• Books are an attempt to control something that's uncontrollable. That's one of the beauties of African American life. There was this thing called slavery and adjustments were made. It literally destroyed millions, but it didn't destroy the inner lives of all the people who experienced it. There are still horrible things that go on because of the myth of race, but we don't have to succumb totally. If I had only a negative side of things to present, I think I would have much less of a drive to do it. Because what would be the point?

  John Edgar Wideman

  Book, Thinking, People

• Our thoughts, our language, are always at a distance from whatever they're trying to describe. We're dreamers and - since we only have one life, and if we screw up we can get in a world of trouble - we're very intense dreamers. That's the beauty and the terror of being human beings: We just have these symbolic languages, these dreams, and that's all it ever is. There is no American or Frenchhistory. There are all these dreams that are floating around. People construct them and fight with them and criticize them, and the world goes on. I don't think the stars pay much attention.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Dream, Distance, Fighting

• I really dislike when people talk about "experimental," because any good writer is experimental. As a writer, you don't know what the hell you're doing. You're just doing it. You hope it works out well. I've been experimenting with these things myself in my own books.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Book, Work Out, People

• I'm very hard-nosed and cold-blooded and I can walk past a drowning man. If I have someplace else to go, well, tough s**t. I could do that. I can. Have. Sometimes, not because I was callous but had to do it.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Past, Men, Tough

  Source: classic.esquire.com

• Everything is up for grabs, everything is relative. Except nothing is if you are serious about it because the moment you become serious about answering a question you have a stake in it. Relatively goes out of the window, in one sense because you're putting your a** out there - you are depending on the answer, you need the answer.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Serious, Window, Moments

  Source: classic.esquire.com

• The hardship, the pain, the suffering of my brother and my son in prison, that's absolutely their experience, that's not mine. I don't get any credit for enduring that. I never give myself any credit for enduring that.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Brother, Pain, Son

  Source: classic.esquire.com

• There's something human that has to do with time and space and being who I am that is in progress and always will be in progress. And who I am, on different days, different moments, depends on different aspects of my past.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Past, Progress, Different

  Source: classic.esquire.com

• If I had only a negative side of things to present, I think I would have much less of a drive to do it. Because what would be the point?

  John Edgar Wideman

  Thinking, Negative, Would Be

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• That's one of the beauties, I think, of African American life. There was this thing called slavery and adjustments were made. It literally destroyed millions, but it didn't destroy everybody and it didn't destroy the inner lives of all the people who experienced it.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Thinking, People, African American

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• Books are an attempt to control something that's uncontrollable.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Book, Uncontrollable

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• There are still horrible things that go on because of the myth of race, but we don't have to succumb totally.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Race, Goes On, Horrible

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• I don't tell everything. I want the reader to have the feeling that maybe they know the whole truth, but they don't.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Feelings, Want, Reader

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• I believe - what did Faulkner say? "The past is not even past."

  John Edgar Wideman

  Believe, Past, I Believe

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• I can't pretend that I did one really awful thing - I took a bite out of the apple but now I'm never going to sin again.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Apples, Awful, Sin

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• I'm still divided in my principles and what I think is right and what I'm actually able to do, whether talking about writing or being a citizen or being a husband or being a father. And I'm trying to get better.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Husband, Father, Writing

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• I want to give the evidence in a way that is convincing, but I don't want to cheat.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Giving, Want, Way

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• I'm still vulnerable and still weak.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Vulnerable, Weak, Stills

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• There is no American history. There is no French history. There is no John Wideman. There are all these dreams that are floating around. People construct them and fight with them and criticize them, and the world goes on. I don't think the stars pay much attention.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Dream, Stars, Fighting

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• That's the beauty and the terror of being human beings: We just have these symbolic languages, these dreams, and that's all it ever is.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Dream, Language, Being Human

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• Our thoughts, our language, are always at a distance from whatever they're trying to describe. We have other kinds of languages, like mathematics, like music, like art, but there's always that gap.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Art, Distance, Trying

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• We're dreamers and - since we only have one life, and if we screw up we can get in a world of trouble - we're very intense dreamers.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Dreamer, Screw Ups, World

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• When I'm writing, I'm thinking, "Well, this might be a book that I'll always be happy with, and certainly readers will be happy with." But another part of me knows that when I'm past the stage of writing, the book is gonna have good things about it, bad things about it - probably more bad than good. I just know that. That's who I am.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Book, Writing, Past

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• I get off on anticipating and waiting much more than I get off on the actual event.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Waiting, Events

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• Things seem to fall apart inevitably.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Fall, Falling Apart, Seems

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• I'm not a fearful person, but I'm a pretty pessimistic person. So some of my best times are waiting, anticipating. That's the way it always has been with me, whether anticipating a ball game, anticipating a relationship.

  John Edgar Wideman

  Games, Waiting, Pessimistic

  Source: www.motherjones.com