Novelists are always resisting autobiographical readings of their work, because they know how false those can be.
Jeffrey EugenidesIn the end, the tortures tearing the Lisbon girls pointed to a simple reasoned refusal to accept the world as it was handed down to them, so full of flaws.
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 EugenidesShe'd become an English major for the purest and dullest of reasons: because she loved to read.
Jeffrey Eugenides