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John Edgar Wideman Quotes


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Quotes by John Edgar Wideman

Showing 31-40 of 46 Quotes by John Edgar Wideman

My books are not about how it feels to be a black man. My books are about how it feels to be a human being, and part of what I'm trying to sort out is what we mean - what I mean, what you mean, what everybody in the culture means - when they say 'black man,' or they say 'white person.'

~John Edgar Wideman

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The title of my book is 'American Histories,' plural. And as far as I'm concerned, my reading of history is it is a sort of nightmare. It is a sort of nightmare, and I'm trying to wake up from it. And as any nightmare, it's full of much that is unspeakable.

~John Edgar Wideman

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How do you talk about the Holocaust? How do you talk about slavery? Probably the best thing to do is just be quiet and hide from it, forget about it. Except, then it jumps up and bites you. Because it's there.

~John Edgar Wideman

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I assume the risk of allowing my fiction to enter other people's true stories. And to be fair, I let other people's stories trespass the truth of mine.

~John Edgar Wideman

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When I'm doing the brute work, I do it early in the morning; that's the best time for me to get the stuff down on the page.

~John Edgar Wideman

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That's been my routine for years and years... Up early before everybody else, before I get connected, before I get bugged, before I have obligations. Get the writing done first, then be the person I want to be in other ways after that.

~John Edgar Wideman

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For a young person, anybody who's sorting out and trying to make a life for himself or herself, to have the opportunity each day to set down - sit down and then set down thoughts, words - it's a crucial, crucial way of staying alive, of not allowing yourself and not allowing the culture outside yourself to totally dominate your life.

~John Edgar Wideman

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Too much is made for us; too much is given to us - even those of us who are underprivileged. The poverty is given to us. The difficulties are given to us.

~John Edgar Wideman

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My father was a veteran. He fought in World War II. He was a patriot. On the other hand, he had no illusions whatsoever about how Uncle Sam had mistreated him and other black soldiers.

~John Edgar Wideman

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My father was intelligent and closed-mouthed. He knew a lot more than what he was ever going to tell you.

~John Edgar Wideman

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Biography

Nationality: American

Type: Writer

Born: June 14th, 1941

Links

Find John Edgar Wideman on Amazon

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