Books are an attempt to control something that's uncontrollable. That's one of the beauties of African American life. There was this thing… — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
That's one of the beauties, I think, of African American life. There was this thing called slavery and adjustments were made. It… — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
If I had only a negative side of things to present, I think I would have much less of a drive to… — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
There is no American history. There is no French history. There is no John Wideman. There are all these dreams that are… — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
Seamless, careful, by-the-book performance provides no evidence of what the spider's thinking about the fly enmeshed in its web. — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
As a reader, I do not like to have everything handed to me. Because after a while it gets formulaic and I'm… — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
I don't write books because I have answers. I write books because I have questions. What we are is the questions that… — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
I'm still divided in my principles and what I think is right and what I'm actually able to do, whether talking about… — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
Our thoughts, our language, are always at a distance from whatever they're trying to describe. We're dreamers and - since we only… — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
When I'm writing, I'm thinking, "Well, this might be a book that I'll always be happy with, and certainly readers will be… — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
My mother loved my father. From my view, she let him get away with too much. It broke my heart to see him in… — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
Too much is made for us; too much is given to us - even those of us who are underprivileged. The poverty is given… — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
A great artist transforms our world, removes scales from our eyes, plugs from our ears, gloves from our fingertips, teaches us to perceive reality… — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
That's what writing is: it's imagining that you can make a world. That's what basketball is, too: it's imagining the game as a world. — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
I'm very hard-nosed and cold-blooded and I can walk past a drowning man. If I have someplace else to go, well, tough s**t. I… — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
I get off on anticipating and waiting much more than I get off on the actual event. — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
You have to be a minor superhero just to get to be a dignified man, and that's kind of exacerbated for men of color. — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
Stories are told over time, and so they naturally accrue meanings. — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
That's been my routine for years and years... Up early before everybody else, before I get connected, before I get bugged, before I have… — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
My father was intelligent and closed-mouthed. He knew a lot more than what he was ever going to tell you. — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
What I wanted to do in talking about basketball in 'Hoop Roots' was retrieve the game as something to participate in, not to watch. — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
Books are an attempt to control something that's uncontrollable. That's one of the beauties of African American life. There was this thing called slavery… — John Edgar Wideman Copy Share Image
