I think there's much more privileging of the new in art. I think people want to think they privilege the new in writing, but I agree with Virginia Woolf. She wrote a great essay called "Craftsmanship" about how difficult it is to use new words. It's really hard, but you see them coming in because obviously, if you're going to write... I mean, even to write "cell phone" in a novel - it's so boring.
Lynne TillmanI think some people are not interesting to themselves. They're the sad, resigned folk. When people call themselves ordinary - "I'm just an ordinary person" - you do wonder what they mean, because people who call themselves ordinary occasionally turn out to be serial killers. Beware of those who say they're ordinary.
Lynne TillmanThe Dutch and the English, former competitors for world dominance, taught me the wisdom of waiting as well as withholding.
Lynne TillmanThe literary world is more time-traveling than the art world, and novelty is much more important in art than it is in writing.
Lynne Tillman