I love the performance of a craft, whether it is modest or mean-spirited, yet I walk away when discussions of it begin - as if one should ask a gravedigger what brand of shovel he uses or whether he prefers to work at noon or in moonlight. I am interested only in the care taken, and those secret rehearsals behind it. Even if I do not understand fully what is taking place.
Michael OndaatjeYou're getting everyone's point of view at the same time, which for me, is the perfect state for a novel: a cubist state, the cubist novel.
Michael OndaatjeThe first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human.
Michael Ondaatje