“The special problem here is that the artistic medium of fiction writers—language—is not innately sensual. The medium is unforgiving whenever we look for it in our minds. Some visual artists do a lot of conceptualizing and still end up creating… — Robert Olen Butler Copy Share Image
The ironic humor comes from the distance between what we understand about ourselves and what is truly going on in ourselves. — Robert Olen Butler Copy Share Image
“If all the artists you loved changed you, they'd hack you up in little piece and you'd never get back together. That, or you'd… — Robert Olen Butler Copy Share Image
“Most journals are repositories of great swatches of abstraction and generalization and self-analysis and interpretation and all that bad stuff. Don’t do that. But… — Robert Olen Butler Copy Share Image
The only craft and technique you have legitimate access to is the craft and technique you forgot, that has dissolved itself into the unconscious...… — Robert Olen Butler Copy Share Image
Natural writers will often try to force themselves into a form - novel, story, screenplay, or poem - that is not necessarily the appropriate… — Robert Olen Butler Copy Share Image
The great Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa said that to be an artist means never to avert your eyes. And that's the hardest thing,… — Robert Olen Butler Copy Share Image
Jayne Anne Phillips . . . is at the height of her powers in Lark and Termite. . . . This is a major… — Robert Olen Butler Copy Share Image
“And so, given the musical sensibilities Hatcher treasured in his earthly life, it is hard to exaggerate the severity of his torture at standing… — Robert Olen Butler Copy Share Image
All plot comes from the character's trying to get something, to achieve something, wanting, desiring, longing. — Robert Olen Butler Copy Share Image
In Red Flags, Juris Jurjevics has brilliantly accomplished a feat that is becoming a major characteristic of 21st century literature: the seamless combining of… — Robert Olen Butler Copy Share Image
“I think, by the way, that’s why athletes are so superstitious. Because if you believe that your current batting streak depends on wearing a… — Robert Olen Butler Copy Share Image
