18 Helen Oyeyemi Quotes for You to Enjoy

Helen Oyeyemi

British Novelist

Born: Dec 10, 1984

Book Love Me People Think You

Related authors: Anne Bronte Charles Morgan Charlotte Bronte Hector Hugh Munro Jeanette Winterson Matt Haig Roald Dahl Zadie Smith

Dickinson is my hero because she was a joker, because she would never explain, because as a poet she confronted pain, dread and death, and because she was capable of speaking of those matters with both levity and seriousness. She's my hero because she was a metaphysical adventurer. Helen Oyeyemi

The way that people feel changes everything. Feelings are forces. They cause us to time travel. And to leave ourselves, to leave our bodies. I would be that kind of psychologist who says, 'You're absolutely right - there are monsters under the bed.' Helen Oyeyemi

Time You Travel People Cause Feelings Changes Monsters Our Everything Way Says Ourselves Kind Would Would-Be Absolutely Feel Forces Bed Leave Time Travel Psychologist Us Bodies Who Right

A few people have tried to make me see that my writing isn't quite their thing by saying to me: 'What about realism?' To which my general response is, 'What about it?' However, I wouldn't be at all surprised if one of my favorite writers, Marilynne Robinson, was to say something similar if asked 'What about the fantastic?' Helen Oyeyemi

Saying Me People Writing Few Say Favorite Response Tried See About Similar Something General Writers Make Robinson However Surprised Few People Quite Which Realism Fantastic Asked Thing

I sometimes get asked: 'How come the men in your stories don't have such strong characters?' And I'm like: 'I don't care.' I just want to find out about all the different lives a woman can live. But my feminism has never been against men. It's not erasure; it's just they're not the focus. In real life, they're quite nice. Helen Oyeyemi

Life Woman Strong Sometimes Care Focus Men Feminism Real Life Nice Live Out Characters Find About Never Come Like How Real Been Get Quite Just Different Want Stories Against Asked Your Lives

I do tend to feel more connected to dead writers, perhaps because they have finished their work. Helen Oyeyemi

Work Finished More Tend Writers Feel Perhaps Dead Because Connected

Sometimes I feel weird about time. Sometimes I feel that it doesn't go in the order we perceive it. There are... repetitions that maybe we decide not to notice because it is simpler. I like to pick up on those moments. Helen Oyeyemi

Time Sometimes Those Perceive About Simpler Pick Weird Feel Like Because Go Repetitions Up Maybe Order Decide Notice Moments

I don't have a style. I just try to write what the story demands. Helen Oyeyemi

Try Style Write Demands Just Story

I think I started writing about identity, and I used to believe that identity is the story. But now I'm not so much subscribed to that. I mean, with 'Mr. Fox,' it has a feminist agenda as well. And so, as I sort of been away from writing about identity, I still feel that kind of tug of roots and, you know, cultural background. Helen Oyeyemi

You Writing Believe Think Background Kind About Feel Know Well Identity Sort Still Feminist Been Cultural Subscribed Tug Story Mean Agenda Much Roots Used Now Away Started Fox

I don't feel there's a difference between the real world and the fairy-tale world. They contain psychological truths and, I guess, projections of what the culture that tells them thinks about various things: men, women, aging, dying - the most basic aspects of being human. Helen Oyeyemi

Culture Women World Men Guess Tells About Various Contain Feel Between Most Real Truths Human Difference Being Dying The Real World Psychological Real World Being Human Them Aspects Aging Basic Things Thinks

I was a real mess at school. I got a bit of a reputation for being the weird girl: the girl who'd go silent randomly and just kind of write down replies to people's questions in a book. Helen Oyeyemi

I think, basically, what I'm good for is reading - a lot. I think I'll always be more of a reader than a writer, definitely. There are sooo many books in the world I haven't read, sometimes I feel as if they're all piled on top of my head weighing me down and saying, 'Hurry up.' Helen Oyeyemi

Saying Good Me World Sometimes Reading Down Think Books Top Definitely Hurry More Writer Weighing Head Feel Read Reader Piled Always Lot Up Than Many Basically

I love taking things out of context and playing with them and chopping up rules. Helen Oyeyemi

Love Rules Out Taking Context Up Them Chopping Things Playing

The first book I really loved was 'Little Women' - I'd have given anything for Beth to have been allowed to live; I remember crying very much over her death, trying to make the words change just by staring at them. I loved 'Anne of Green Gables,' too; 'What Katy Did;' and 'Peter Pan.' Helen Oyeyemi

Death Change Women Book Words Remember First Live Too Given Allowed Anne Over Crying Make Been Very Green Trying Did Just Anything Loved Little Them Much Really Peter Peter Pan Staring Her Pan

I always wanted to be a writer! But I wanted to do other things, too - be a psychologist, a librarian, et cetera. Now I've decided that reading fiction that features characters who are in those professions will do. Helen Oyeyemi

Will Reading Too Other Those Librarian Characters Features Writer Always Fiction Wanted Decided Psychologist Who Now Professions Things

Fairy tales, because they have a very clear structure, are easier to interfere with. Also they have this really weird logic: the kind of logic that you only really experience when you're not feeling very well, or as a child. Helen Oyeyemi

I don't think my writing has much to do with my age. For me, my biography is more about what I was reading at what age. It's more of an intellectual thing of wanting to be free to write and think without being too bound by categorisation. I don't think I'm made for these times; I feel more like an old-fashioned writer. Helen Oyeyemi

Me Age Writing Made Free Reading Think Too About More Write Writer Feel Bound Like Without Intellectual Times Being Wanting Much Old-Fashioned Thing Biography

I feel like an old lady; my hero is Miss Marple. Helen Oyeyemi

Old Hero Feel Miss Like Lady Old Lady

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