--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: First publication is a pure, carnal leap…" description: "\"First publication is a pure, carnal leap into that dark which one dreams is life.\" — Hortense Calisher" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8a5/hortense-calisher-21501_book_first-publication-is-a-pure-carnal-leap_2083533.png" --- # First publication is a pure, carnal leap into that dark… ![“First publication is a pure, carnal leap into that dark which one dreams is life.” quote by Hortense Calisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8a5/hortense-calisher-21501_book_first-publication-is-a-pure-carnal-leap_2083533.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8a5/hortense-calisher-21501_book_first-publication-is-a-pure-carnal-leap_2083533.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8a5/hortense-calisher-21501_book_first-publication-is-a-pure-carnal-leap_2083533.png) > “First publication is a pure, carnal leap into that dark which one dreams is life.” [Hortense Calisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hortense-calisher/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote suggests that publishing a work is an intimate, risky act that plunges into unknown, dream‑like realms of existence. **In simple terms:** Publishing is a daring, intimate plunge into the unknown. Key Takeaway Embrace the risk and trust your vision. Themes creativity risk artistic expression Mood anxious hopeful determined Type literary inspirational When to use this quote - writing a novel - launching a debut - sharing personal narratives - entering a new market Key Concepts existentialism authorial identity Questions to Reflect On - What unknown aspects of yourself do you fear revealing? - How can you balance vulnerability with confidence? A Different Perspective The leap may be hindered by self‑doubt and market pressures. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books and reading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books-and-reading/) [Dark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dark/) [Dark dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dark-dreams/) [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Leap](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leap/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Reading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reading/) ## Related quotes > [I dream dark dreams. 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People with really dark souls do nothing but dream.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/people-with-dark-souls-have-nothing-but-dark-dreams-people-with/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [Neither awake nor in a dark dream are perilous blades just as they seem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-l-mckiernan/neither-awake-nor-in-a-dark-dream-are-perilous-blades-just-as-they/) [Dennis L. McKiernan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-l-mckiernan/) > [The one you love leans forward, smiles, deceives you, Opens a door through which you see dark dreams.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/the-one-you-love-leans-forward-smiles-deceives-you-opens-a-door/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [London is like a cold dark dream sometimes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-rhys/london-is-like-a-cold-dark-dream-sometimes/) [Jean Rhys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-rhys/) > [“At some point, during the early hours of the morning, the dreams found their way in. they were dark dreams, treacherous, submerging Violet in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kimberly-derting/at-some-point-during-the-early-hours-of-the-morning-the-dreams-found/) [kimberly Derting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kimberly-derting/) > [When he wakes sometimes from dark dreams of broken cradles, and compasses without bearings, he pushes the unease down, lets the daylight contradict it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-he-wakes-sometimes-from-dark-dreams-of-broken-cradles-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [For the world is founded and built up on death, and the reality of death is neither to be questioned nor feared. 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Clement > [When we read too fast or too slowly, we understand nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-pascal/when-we-read-too-fast-or-too-slowly-we-understand-nothing/) [Blaise Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-pascal/) > [Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/reading-a-book-is-like-re-writing-it-for-yourself/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [Love of books is the best of all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackie-kennedy/love-of-books-is-the-best-of-all/) [Jackie Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackie-kennedy/) ## More by Hortense Calisher > [Every art is a church without communicants, presided over by a parish of the respectable. 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We're in charge of the basic facts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hortense-calisher/women-can-t-travel-light-we-re-in-charge-of-the-basic-facts/) [Hortense Calisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hortense-calisher/) > [Decades go faster toward the end of a century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hortense-calisher/decades-go-faster-toward-the-end-of-a-century/) [Hortense Calisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hortense-calisher/) > ['Ms.' is a syllable which sounds like a bumble bee is breaking wind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hortense-calisher/ms-is-a-syllable-which-sounds-like-a-bumble-bee-is-breaking-wind/) [Hortense Calisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hortense-calisher/) > [Diplomacy is what is practiced after-the-fact. Never be too right too soon -- as any smart Uncle will tell you. 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Of the muscles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hortense-calisher/balance-is-compromise-of-the-muscles/) [Hortense Calisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hortense-calisher/) > [Sociology, the guilty science, functions best by alarm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hortense-calisher/sociology-the-guilty-science-functions-best-by-alarm/) [Hortense Calisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hortense-calisher/) > [The young show the genetic process, the old merely die of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hortense-calisher/the-young-show-the-genetic-process-the-old-merely-die-of-it/) [Hortense Calisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hortense-calisher/) > [The novel is rescued life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hortense-calisher/the-novel-is-rescued-life/) [Hortense Calisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hortense-calisher/) > [It has always seemed to me that if you could talk about your work in fully-formed phrases, you wouldn't write it. 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