David Shields
David Shields
David Shieldsis an American author of fiction and nonfiction...
genre-is prison minimum
Genre is a minimum security prison,
book should endure
A book should either allow us to escape existence or teach us how to endure it.
reality talking nonfiction
To me, the moment you're talking about nonfiction you're talking about reality.
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.
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.
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.
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.
thinking literature serious
I take literature as a really serious human activity. It's not just a playful thing. It can be hilarious and wonderful and performative, but I think it's really serious.
novel mediums prose
My medium is prose, not the novel.
memories fiction
Anything processed by memory is fiction.
farm potato seen since
I've never seen a potato farm since I've been down here.
compensate field giant hard less super
It's hard to compensate for a super giant field with something much less than a super giant field.
book reading order
If I'm reading a book and it seems truly interesting, I tend to start reading back to front in order not to be too deeply under the sway of progress.
thinking rooms plot
The absence of plot leaves the reader room to think about other things.