A good book ... leaves you wanting to reread the book. A great book compels you to reread your own soul.
Richard FlanaganOne cannot distinguish between human and non-human acts. One cannot point, one cannot say this man here is a man and that man there is a devil.
Richard FlanaganWriting is not lying, nor is it theft. It is a journey and search for transparency between oneโs words and oneโs soul.
Richard FlanaganI do not share the pessimism of the age about the novel. They are one of our greatest spiritual, aesthetic and intellectual inventions. As a species it is story that distinguishes us, and one of the supreme expressions of story is the novel. Novels are not content. Nor are they are a mirror to life or an explanation of life or a guide to life. Novels are life, or they are nothing.
Richard Flanagan