While writing Cold Mountain, I held maps of two geographies, two worlds, in my mind as I wrote. One was an early map of North Carolina. Overlaying it, though, was an imagined map of the landscape Jack travels in the southern Appalachian folktales. He's much the same Jack who climbs the beanstalk, vulnerable and clever and opportunistic.
Charles FrazierShe wondered if literature might lose some of its interest when she reached an age or state of mind where her life was set on such a sure course that the things she read might stop seeming so powerfully like alternate directions for her being.
Charles FrazierThe past is a stronger influence in the South. But I think everywhere you have this sense that the world changes faster than you can accommodate yourself to. Looking back and seeing how you got where you are is a useful way to combat disorientation.
Charles Frazier[No] matter what a waste one has made of one's life, it is ever possible to find some path to redemption, however partial.
Charles FrazierWhat you have lost will not be returned to you; it always be lost. Youโre left with only your scars to mark the void. All you can choose to do is go on, or not. But if you go on, itโs knowing you carry your scars with you.
Charles Frazier