I have always written about characters who fall somewhere in the spectrum between solitary and totally alienated.
Nicole KraussDonโt you see?โ I said. โHe could change every detail, but he couldnโt change her.โ โBut why?โ His obtuseness frustrated me. โBecause he was in love with her!โ I said. โBecause, to him, she was the only thing that was real.
Nicole KraussI think of novels as houses. You live in them over the course of a long period, both as a reader and as a writer.
Nicole KraussIn the beginning it was always the same. But. I kept trying. Then one day I accidentally moved as the shutter clicked. A shadow appeared. The next time I saw the outline of my face, and a few weeks later my face itself. It was the opposite of disappearing.
Nicole KraussI have realised just how important it is to readers to feel that fictional stories are based on reality.
Nicole KraussOnce upon a time you were a fish. How do you know? Because I was also a fish. You, too? Sure. A long time ago. Anyway, being a fish, you knew how to swim. You were a great swimmer. A champion swimmer, you were. You loved the water. Why? What do you mean, why? Why did I love the water? Because it was your life! And as we talked, I would have let him go one finger at a time, until, without his realizing, he'd be floating without me. Perhaps that is what it means to be a father-to teach your child to live without you.
Nicole Krauss