Contemporary Literature Quotes

• Contemporary literature in the West has shown some signs of ethical change.

  Lafcadio Hearn

  Literature, West, Ethical

  Lafcadio Hearn (2012). “Books and Habits from the Lectures of Lafcadio Hearn”, p.150, tredition

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• The contemporary thing in art and literature is the thing which doesn't make enough difference to the people of that generation so that they can accept it or reject it.

  Gertrude Stein

  Art, Differences, People

  Gertrude Stein (2012). “Ida: A Novel”, p.326, Yale University Press

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• Literature that is not the breath of contemporary society, that dares not transmit the pains and fears of that society . . . loses the confidence of its own people, and its published works are used as wastepaper instead of being read.

  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

  Pain, People, Literature

  Open letter to the Fourth Soviet Writers' Congress (16 May 1967) as translated in "Solzhenitsyn: A Documentary Record" edited by Leopold Labedz, "The Struggle Intensifies", 1970.

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• People like to complain about the state of contemporary literature, but I can only assume they don't read it very widely.

  Laura Miller

  People, Complaining, Literature

  "Salon’s What to Read Awards: Top critics choose the best books of 2013". www.salon.com. December 27, 2013.

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• I'm a big believer in pairing classics with contemporary literature, so students have the opportunity to see that literature is not a cold, dead thing that happened once but instead a vibrant mode of storytelling that's been with us a long time - and will be with us, I hope, for a long time to come.

  John Green

  Opportunity, Long, Literature

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• For the judging of contemporary literature the only test is one's personal taste. If you much like a new book, you must call it literature even though you find no other soul to agree with you, and if you dislike a book you must declare that it is not literature though a million voices should shout you that you are wrong. The ultimate decision will be made by Time.

  Ford Madox Ford

  Book, Voice, Judging

  Ford Madox Ford (1938). “The March of Literature: From Confucius' Day to Our Own”, p.11, Dalkey Archive Press

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• For my students who are trying to learn the craft of writing in a writing class - contemporary literature is what's most useful.

  Alan Lightman

  Writing, Class, Trying

  Interview with Robert Birnbaum, www.identitytheory.com. November 16, 2000.

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• Of all the unexpected things in contemporary literature, this is among the oddest: that kids have an inordinate appetite for very long, very tricky, very strange books about places that don't exist...

  Adam Gopnik

  Book, Kids, Long

  "The Dragon's Egg" by Adam Gopnik, www.newyorker.com. December 5, 2011.

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• It's an absurd error to put modern English literature in the curriculum. You should read contemporary literature for pleasure or not at all. You shouldn't be taught to monkey with it.

  Rebecca West

  Errors, Literature, Monkeys

  "Rebecca West, The Art of Fiction No. 65". Interview with Marina Warner, The Paris Review, No. 79, www.theparisreview.org. Spring 1981.

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• His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing... My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System.

  Arthur Conan Doyle

  Philosophy, Book, Ignorance

  Arthur Conan Doyle, General Press (2016). “The Complete Sherlock Holmes: All 56 Stories & 4 Novels”, p.1316, GENERAL PRESS

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• Maya Angelou, the famous African American poet, historian, and civil rights activist who is hailed be many as one of the great voices of contemporary literature, believes a struggle only makes a person stronger.

  Michael N. Castle

  Believe, Struggle, Rights

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