David Shields
David Shields
David Shieldsis an American author of fiction and nonfiction...
distance rumor matter
I don’t know what’s the matter with me, why I’m so adept at distance, why I feel so remote from things, why life feels like a rumor.
momentum narrative mosaics
Momentum, in literary mosaic, derives not from narrative but from the subtle, progressive buildup of thematic resonances.
groups care littles
In my own little way, I feel like I'm part of a group of writers who care deeply about pushing the essay forward.
believe writing data
Everything I write, I believe instinctively, is to some extent collage. Meaning, ultimately, is a matter of adjacent data.
narrative allies honest
I'm not interested in collage as the refuge of the composition-ally disabled. I'm interested in collage as (to be honest) an evolution beyond narrative.
teaching editing miracle
Thomas Jefferson went through the New Testament and removed all the miracles, leaving only the teachings. Take a source, extract what appeals to you, discard the rest. Such an act of editorship is bound to reflect something of the individual doing the editing: a plaster cast of an aesthetic-not the actual thing, but the imprint of it.
reality talking nonfiction
To me, the moment you're talking about nonfiction you're talking about reality.
long novel built
The novel is dead. Long live the antinovel, built from scraps.
sacrifice too-much plot
With relatively few exceptions, the novel sacrifices too much, for me, on the altar of plot.
narrative plot resolution
Resolution and conclusion are inherent in a plot-driven narrative.
character self critique
I'm wonderfully self-lacerating, probably to my character's detriment. I'm terribly open to critique.
genre-is prison minimum
Genre is a minimum security prison,
narrative nonfiction labels
Nonfiction, qua label, is nothing more or less than a very flexible (easily breakable) frame that allows you to pull the thing away from narrative and toward contemplation, which is all I've ever wanted.
art reality poetry
The beauty of reality-based art - art underwritten by reality hunger - is that it's perfectly situated between life itself and (unattainable) "life as art".