Too often students are being taught to read as if literature were some kind of ethics class or civics class—or worse, some kind of self-help manual. In fact, the important thing is the way the writer uses the language. — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
I think of myself as someone with a kind of Tourette's. I cannot help saying the thing you're not supposed to say. — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“I'm out of the equation, an innocent bystander at the major love affair Joan is having with Joan” — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
I went through college in the 1960s without having any idea that I was going to have to make a living. When I graduated… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
All the elements of good writing depend on the writer's skill in choosing one word instead of another. — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“She emerges from the station directly across from the restaurant. And she's right on time. Like magic, Sonya thinks, briefly saddened to realize that… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“Like, for example, sleeve length. Should he hide the tattoos? Or just wear a T-shirt and let "them" do the talking? If one picture's… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“Consequently, we sympathize. We identify. We care. In fact, most writers would like you to identify” — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“A woman would have to be crazy to marry, or even have sex with, a man who would prosecute every lover’s quarrel like a… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
I know a lot of Eastern Europeans, and because of what they have been through and what they have seen, they have an attitude… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“I’ve always thought that a close-reading course should at least be a companion, if not an alternative, to the writing workshop. Though it also… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
“Not all great writers may seem great to us, regardless of how often and how hard we try to see their virtues. I know,… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
Like seeing a photograph of yourself as a child, encountering handwriting that you know was once yours but that now seems only dimly familiar… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
'One Hundred Years of Solitude' convinced me to drop out of Harvard graduate school. The novel reminded me of everything my Ph.D. program was… — Francine Prose Copy Share Image
