Tracing Quotations
Cormac McCarthy? Richard B. Woodward? Henry Holland? Paul Valéry? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent literary figure was asked to name other influential writers. The sharp reply emphasized the interconnectedness of all cultural text: The ugly fact is books are made out of books. This statement has been ascribed to Cormac McCarthy who penned …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Books Are Made Out of Books”
Paul Valéry? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The following appeared as an epigraph to an article I saw recently: Serious-minded people have few ideas. People with ideas are never serious. The words were attributed to the French poet and commentator Paul Valéry. I am not sure precisely what the remark means. Would you please help …
Paul Valéry? W. H. Auden? Anaïs Nin? Maya Deren? Jean Cocteau? Esther Kellner? Gene Fowler? Gore Vidal? Marianne Moore? George Lucas? Oscar Wilde? Question for Quote Investigator: A creative person who is absorbed with the task of generating an artwork hesitates to declare completion. Reworking and improving a piece is always a tantalizing possibility. Here …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: A Work of Art Is Never Finished, Merely Abandoned”