Walter Kirn
Walter Kirn
Walter Kirn is an American novelist, literary critic, and essayist. He is the author of eight books, most notably Up in the Air, which was made into a movie starring George Clooney...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
CountryUnited States of America
mind size fit
I feel like my head is finally the right size. I feel like it finally fits around my mind.
cold bones chickens
What was more humiliating, I wondered: having to beg for someone's cold chicken bones or being offered them?
quiet cunning
Quiet cunning bested boastful brawn
media choices lessons
The strange anthropological lesson of social media is that human beings, if given a choice, often prefer to socialise alone.
kissing people devotion
Other people's devotions embarrassed me, perhaps because, like other people's kisses, they rarely looked genuine when viewed too closely.
way honest accusing
Requesting permission from someone to be honest is really a way of accusing the other person of being so demanding or overbearing that you couldn't be honest all along.
dream bad-dream vague
I preferred that my bad dreams be vague.
dream dumb
It looked like just the sort of family Americans dream of having: dumb and loving.
faults language obsession
Given Loughner's obsession with meaninglessness and language, maybe Foucault & Derrida deserve some fault here, too.
interesting critics
The best critic needn't be right, just interesting.
blame business cherish convinced count drunk inspiring involved partisan prospect public reason spreading thereby usual washington
The reason that last-ditch political maneuvering has become business as usual in Washington is that the actors involved are drunk on blame and are convinced that the voting public is, too. They count on outrage, thereby spreading numbness. They cherish the prospect of partisan fury, thereby inspiring nonpartisan disgust.
depend endured future time won
The future of time, of how it's won or lost, endured or enjoyed, expanded or compressed, will depend on how it's valued, not how it's measured.
atmosphere liked
At college, I wanted to be a poet. I liked the extremely concentrated language, the atmosphere of otherworldliness.
atmosphere liked
At college, I wanted to be a poet. I liked the extremely concentrated language, the atmosphere of otherworldliness.