Quote of the day

[pjthompson]

"One writes first to find himself, then one writes to find the universe. One writes for wisdom: the writing is the road and the wisdom is the place to where the road is going. This remains true until when, over the course of much writing bad or good, inconsequential or important, one has constructed a literary persona, the purpose of which then becomes its own self-perpetuation."

—Steve Erickson, Amnesiascope



I'm not sure I'm quite this cynical, but I liked the quote anyway.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I think that guy has been spending too much time in highbrow New York salons.

My mind fills with counter-examples, beginning with Jane Austen...

[pjthompson]

Heh--highbrown LA salons. (Is there such a thing?) And yeah, I can think of counter-examples, too.

Amnesiascope is bitter, cynical, kinky, surreal and takes place in a dystopic LA. Part of it is set in the ruins of the Sand Castle, that wonderful old residential hotel on Santa Monica beach destroyed in the Northridge quake. And then at the end, the book takes wing and soars. Very strange book that I liked despite my better judgment.

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

That kind of made my brain hurt.

[pjthompson]

LOL-Erickson has that effect on many people.

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

Cynical? That depends on whether you think it's a bad thing. I've certainly learned a great deal about myself, and the universe, while writing.

[pjthompson]

Yes, that's the part of the quote I like and why I posted it because I certainly think that's true. I think the cynicism comes in the last clause, about self-perpetuation of a literary persona.