“One day she would be a formidable female, a creature to be reckoned with”
The Dragon Queen
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Alice Borchardt 57
American fiction writer 1939–2007Related quotes
“Stay tuned. The day of reckoning will come.”
Source: As Papa John's moves on without its founder, John Schnatter vows for a 'day of reckoning' https://www.wdrb.com/news/as-papa-johns-moves-on-without-its-founder-john-schnatter-vows-for-a-day-of/article_b249cd6a-0fd0-11ea-98be-57e90d623b95.html (December 4, 2019)
Introduction, p. 4
Elements of Rhetoric (1828)
“She is either the Mother Goddess or one of her creatures”
The Paris Review interview (1982)
Context: I’ve always been interested in the Mother Goddess. Not long ago, a young person, whom I don’t know very well, sent a message to a mutual friend that said: “I’m an addict of Mary Poppins, and I want you to ask P. L. Travers if Mary Poppins is not really the Mother Goddess.” So, I sent back a message: “Well, I’ve only recently come to see that. She is either the Mother Goddess or one of her creatures — that is, if we’re going to look for mythological or fairy-tale origins of Mary Poppins.”
I’ve spent years thinking about it because the questions I’ve been asked, very perceptive questions by readers, have led me to examine what I wrote. The book was entirely spontaneous and not invented, not thought out. I never said, “Well, I’ll write a story about Mother Goddess and call it Mary Poppins.” It didn’t happen like that. I cannot summon up inspiration; I myself am summoned.
Once, when I was in the United States, I went to see a psychologist. It was during the war when I was feeling very cut off. I thought, Well, these people in psychology always want to see the kinds of things you’ve done, so I took as many of my books as were then written. I went and met the man, and he gave me another appointment. And at the next appointment the books were handed back to me with the words: “You know, you don’t really need me. All you need to do is read your own books.”
That was so interesting to me. I began to see, thinking about it, that people who write spontaneously as I do, not with invention, never really read their own books to learn from them. And I set myself to reading them. Every now and then I found myself saying, “But this is true. How did she know?” And then I realized that she is me. Now I can say much more about Mary Poppins because what was known to me in my blood and instincts has now come up to the surface in my head.
Source: Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 3 (2015), p. 273
