I would argue, for perspective's sake, that the arc of a really literary work is precisely that it both intensely reflects, and simultaneously transcends the conditions of its making. I would say that is the difference between literature and other… — Daniel Mendelsohn Copy Share Image
I have nothing but great respect for great scholars. But I was in grad school in the '80s and '90s, at the height of the theory craziness. It had a big part in why I ended up becoming a writer… — Daniel Mendelsohn Copy Share Image
I was interested in all kinds of things, whether it be Avatar, Mad Men, Troy, 300, Battlestar Gallactica, or the poems of Horace and… — Daniel Mendelsohn Copy Share Image
“An epic without a focus - without a single action, a coherent plot, a single terrible point to make - was just a very… — Daniel Mendelsohn Copy Share Image
Life is not bad, and it doesn't look more real if it's ugly or it's gritty. Think of your own life. Most of what's… — Daniel Mendelsohn Copy Share Image
“As ingenious as this explanation is, it seems to me to miss entirely the emotional significance of the text- its beautiful and beautifully economical… — Daniel Mendelsohn Copy Share Image
“To be alive today is to have a story to tell. To be alive is precisely to be the hero, the center of a… — Daniel Mendelsohn Copy Share Image
We are living in an era of such interesting new forms, and certainly narrative non-fiction has emerged as a major form. People who are… — Daniel Mendelsohn Copy Share Image
“This consideration takes us very close to what it is that makes Greek tragedy “tragic.” A play about an unambiguously heroic young woman, someone’s… — Daniel Mendelsohn Copy Share Image
In the pre-Internet age you had to find gay things - or things that were slightly radioactive with erotic interest. You had to go… — Daniel Mendelsohn Copy Share Image
“real tragedy is never a straightforward confrontation between Good and Evil, but is, rather, much more exquisitely and much more agonizingly, a conflict between… — Daniel Mendelsohn Copy Share Image
Shopping as lifestyle is really a sub-cultural problem. When the strictures that set you apart or oppressed you, disappear, is there a way, legitimately,… — Daniel Mendelsohn Copy Share Image
You come out of the gate, you've got something new, you're subversive, nobody's ever done it before. But by your fifth novel and your… — Daniel Mendelsohn Copy Share Image
Closeness can lead to emotions other than love. It's the ones who have been too intimate with you, lived in too close quarters, seen… — Daniel Mendelsohn Copy Share Image
