We are not buried in history, but surrounded by it. You can't avoid our behavior being shaped by it, to a considerable degree. We have this fantasy that we are free of history. This allows us not to see the circumstances, the historical circumstances of other people.
Russell BanksBoys like it when you talk to them as if they were grown menโat least he always did when he was a kidโbecause they pretend thatโs what they are anyhow, grown-up men, and they do it for their entire lives.
Russell BanksThe way I feel about every book is this: you don't finish it, you abandon it. All of my books have in some sense failed, otherwise I wouldn't write another one. If I wrote the perfect book, I wouldn't have to write again, and I wouldn't want to. That's not true for everyone, but it's true for me. I could walk away then. But so far I haven't managed to do it.
Russell Banks