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However appalling to consider, however tedious to enact, every novel requires furniture, whether it is to be named or unnamed, for the characters will be unable to remain in standing position for the duration of the story.

Jonathan Lethem

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Jonathan Lethem
Age: 60
Born: 1964
Born: February 19
Author
Essayist
Novelist
Science Fiction Writer
Writer
New York City
New York
Jonathan Allen Lethem
Harry Conklin
Every
However
Tedious
Standing
Furniture
Novel
Named
Position
Unable
Story
Requires
Unnamed
Whether
Remain
Enact
Stories
Consider
Appalling
Character
Characters
Duration

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Writing is a necessity and often a pleasure, but at the same time, it can be a great burden and a terrible struggle.
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One of the things that novels have tended not to concentrate on over the centuries is the fact that people read books.
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There's something about the rhythms of language that correspond to the rhythms of our own bodies.
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When people call something original, 9 out of 10 times they just don't know the references or original sources involved.
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I want to write books that can be read a hundred years from now, and readers wouldn't be bogged down by irrelevant details.
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I believe that written stories will continue to survive because they answer an essential human need. I think movies might disappear before the novel disappears, because the novel is really one of the only places in the world where two strangers can meet on terms of absolute intimacy.
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Yet I'm making a book and I'm going to care immensely about what words get bound in the pages, and I want the object to look good. I won't believe in it and it won't be real to me until there's a finished book I can hold.
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I prefer old books and find them more relevant. I dislike new books. It's like drinking wine that's not ready.
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I never take any notes or draw charts or make elaborate diagrams, but I hold an image of the shape of a book in my head and work from that mental hologram.
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I had an all-Fear of Music iPod, just versions of the 11 songs from the record. No other songs allowed.
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...Don't rupture another's illusion unless you're positive the alternative you offer is more worthwhile than that from which you're wrenching them. Interrogate your solipsism: Does it offer any better a home than the delusions you're reaching to shatter?
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When the civil rights battle was won, all the Jews and hippies and artists were middle class white people and all the blacks were still poor. Materially, not much changed.
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Artists freeze themselves into these weird postures that are meant to be impressive and involving, then they fling them out into the world like Polaroids, and then they move on. And I'm stuck in this intense relationship to the Polaroid.
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I hate feeling too complacent when I write. I like to be solving new problems.
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I grew up with an artist father, and my parents' friends were also mainly artists or writers, so he connects what I do with his example.
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I don't have a lot of paper in my immediate work environment, except when I'm doing things like checking the godforsaken proofs.
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What's lucky about my career in general is that I stumbled into what every writer most wants. Not repeating myself and doing strange things has become my trademark.
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Every book is a kind of experiment in doing something that feels impossible.
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I'm a firm believer that there are no rules in art. Every trajectory is different.
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Some people have things written all over their faces the big guy had a couple of words misspelled in crayon on his.
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