Talking like touching. Writing like punching somebody.

Reading usually precedes writing. And the impulse to write is almost always fired by reading. Reading, the love of reading, is what makes you dream of becoming a writer.

Experiences aren't pornographic; only images and representations - structures of the imagination - are.

What pornography is really about, ultimately, isn't sex but death.

Art is not only about something; it is something. A work of art is a thing in the world, not just a text or commentary on the world.

It's almost as if this is the fundamental procedure in modern society: duplication and recycling.

The ratio of authentic literature to trash in pornography may be somewhat lower than the ratio of novels of genuine literary meritto the entire volume of sub-literary fiction produced for mass taste. But it is probably not lower than, for instance, that of another somewhat shady sub-genre with a few first-rate books to its credit, science fiction.