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I think the crime novel has replaced the sociological novel of the 1930s. I think the progenitor of that tradition is James M. Cain, who in my view is the most neglected writer in American literature.

James Lee Burke

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James Lee Burke
Age: 87
Born: 1936
Born: December 5
Author
Novelist
Writer
Houston
Texas
Novel
Cain
Views
Neglected
Literature
James
American
Replaced
Think
Tradition
Thinking
Crime
View
Progenitor
Writer
Sociological

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But perhaps age has taught me that the earth is still new, molten at the core and still forming, that black leaves in the winter forest will crawl with life in the spring, that our story is ongoing and it is indeed a crime to allow the heart's energies to dissipate with the fading of light on the horizon.
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That's one of the great advantages of age. You can say, I don't want to, I don't care, you can throw temper tantrums, and nobody minds.
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And like most middle-aged people who hear the clock ticking in their lives, I had come to resent a waste or theft of my time that was greater than any theft of my goods or money.
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Age is a clever thief. It takes a little from you each day, so you're not aware of your loss until it'd irreversible.
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...and I wonder if there is any way to adequately describe the folly that causes us to undo all the great gifts of both Earth and Heaven.
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Is there a design in the events of our lives? Or do things just happen, much like a junk yard falling down a staircase? If it's the latter, how do you deal with it?
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You do it a day at a time. You write as well as you can, you put it in the mail, you leave it under submission, you never leave it at home.
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It has been my experience that most human stories are circular rather than linear. Regardless of the path we choose, we somehow end up where we commenced - in part, I suspect, because the child who lives in us goes along for the ride.
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There's nothing like rejection to make you do an inventory of yourself.
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Louisiana is a fresh-air mental asylum.
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What's the worst thing about getting old? Getting old.
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To misuse one's talent, to be cavalier about it, to set it aside because of fear or sloth is unpardonable.
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Using a first-person narrator is simply a matter of hearing the voice inside yourself.
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You have two choices in life. You either die or do something with your time. You're going to be doing something - why not write?
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