One of the reasons that art is important to me is sometimes it actually feels more coherent than life. It orders the chaos.
Jeffrey EugenidesBut I care about the reader, and I'm trying to keep the reader's attention for as long as I can.
Jeffrey EugenidesIt was one of those humid days when the atmosphere gets confused. Sitting on the porch, you could feel it: the air wishing it was water.
Jeffrey EugenidesWords, words, word. Once, I had the gift. I could make love out of words as a potter makes cups of clay. Love that overthrows empire. Love that binds two hearts together, come hellfire & brimstone. For sixpence a line, I could cause a riot in a nunnery. But now -- I have lost my gift. It's as if my quill is broken, as if the organ of my imagination has dried up, as if the proud -illegible word- of my genius has collapsed.
Jeffrey Eugenides