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Lydia Davis Quotes
Lydia Davis Quotes
Lydia Davis
American
Writer
Born:
Jul 15
,
1947
First
Just
People
Think
Translation
Writing
Related authors:
Dale Carnegie
Denis Waitley
Dr. Seuss
H. L. Mencken
Napoleon Hill
Ray Bradbury
W. E. B. Du Bois
William Arthur Ward
I don't like to hurt people's feelings, and I don't like to knock other writers as a matter of principle.
Lydia Davis
Hurt
People
Matter
Feelings
Other
Writers
Knock
Like
Principle
I started writing the one-sentence stories when I was translating 'Swann's Way.' There were two reasons. I had almost no time to do my own writing, but didn't want to stop. And it was a reaction to Proust's very long sentences.
Lydia Davis
Time
Writing
Long
Own
Way
My Own
No Time
Had
Almost
Reaction
Proust
Were
Very
Stop
Want
Stories
Sentences
Translating
Reasons
Started
Two
I would recommend, definitely, developing a 'day job' that you like - don't expect to make money writing!
Lydia Davis
Day
You
Writing
Money
Job
Definitely
Recommend
Would
Day Job
Developing
Like
Make
Expect
I don't pare down much. I write the beginning of a story in a notebook and it comes out very close to what it will be in the end. There is not much deliberateness about it.
Lydia Davis
Will
Beginning
Down
Out
About
Pare
Write
End
Very
Close
In The End
Story
Notebook
Much
I am basically the sort of person who has stage-fright teaching. I kind of creep into a classroom. I'm not an anecdote-teller, either, although I often wish I were.
Lydia Davis
Wish
Kind
Classroom
Sort
Although
Am
Were
Person
Often
Either
Teaching
Who
Basically
Creep
I follow my interests pretty - I don't like the word 'intuitively.' I follow them in a kind of natural way, without questioning them too much.
Lydia Davis
Natural
Word
Too Much
Too
Way
Kind
Follow
Intuitively
Pretty
Like
Without
Questioning
Them
Much
Interests
Natural Way
Ordering is difficult. It's like arranging pieces of music in a concert: What do you put first? What do you put after the intermission? I want the reader to be sort of surprised, to come to each story freshly.
Lydia Davis
Music
You
First
Difficult
Put
Come
Like
Pieces
Concert
Reader
Sort
Arranging
Surprised
Want
Ordering
After
Story
Intermission
Each
Collections aren't really planned. I just keep writing short pieces until I have enough for a collection.
Lydia Davis
Writing
Enough
Collection
Collections
Pieces
Until
Short
Just
Really
Planned
Keep
I first read 'Madame Bovary' in my teens or early twenties.
Lydia Davis
First
Teens
Madame
Read
Twenties
Early
If a translation doesn't have obvious writing problems, it may seem quite all right at first glance. We readers, after all, quickly adapt to the style of a translator, stop noticing it, and get caught up in the story.
Lydia Davis
Writing
Problems
First
Style
Translation
Seem
Glance
Obvious
Readers
Caught
Up
Quickly
Get
Quite
May
Stop
After
Story
Translator
Noticing
Right
Adapt
Of course we may have any number of translations of a given text - the more the better, really.
Lydia Davis
Better
Given
More
Course
Text
Any
May
Really
Translations
Number
I do think novels are overlooked. I did write one some years ago that I think is quite good, called 'The End of the Story,' not to blow my own horn.
Lydia Davis
Good
Own
Think
Horn
Some
My Own
Write
Overlooked
Years
Years Ago
End
Did
Blow
Quite
Story
Novels
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