Quote

Repression is good for cultural achievement. Let's face it. What are gay boys going to be like? I always like to say the 19th-century gay boy was Oscar Wilde, the 20th-century gay boy was Stonewall and ACT UP. And in the 21st century, we have blocking people on Grindr. That's what we've accomplished. Without some kind of traction.

Daniel Mendelsohn

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Daniel Mendelsohn
Age: 64
Born: 1960
Born: April 16
Journalist
Literary Critic
Memoirist
Translator
Writer
Always
Achievement
Blocking
Like
Boys
Wilde
People
Century
Oscar
Face
Repression
Without
Cultural
Going
Accomplished
Kind
Block
Stonewall
Good
Gay
Traction

More quotes by Daniel Mendelsohn

Image
What if The Odyssey has no more validity or authenticity than one of the other stories that you hear Odysseus telling? Whoever created The Odyssey was incredibly hip to stuff that we think, in our post-modernist, post-structuralist era, we're uncovering for the first time but we aren't.
Daniel Mendelsohn
Image
The writers we absorb when we're young bind us to them, sometimes lightly, sometimes with iron. In time, the bonds fall away, but if you look very closely you can sometimes make out the pale white groove of a faded scar, or the telltale chalky red of old rust.
Daniel Mendelsohn
Image
We are living in an era of such interesting new forms, and certainly narrative non-fiction has emerged as a major form. People who are great writers don't have to write novels anymore.
Daniel Mendelsohn
Image
Opening things up not closing them off is my job. I'm doing that for my reader. You know, Bob Gottlieb always says, Criticism is a service industry. I take that very seriously. I do the research so I can tell you interesting things. It's not condescending, it's educational.
Daniel Mendelsohn