
From the thirteenth book, "The Book of the Dead"
The Pillow Book
From the thirteenth book, "The Book of the Dead"
The Pillow Book
“Great books write themselves, only bad books have to be written.”
“The reason why so few good books are written is, that so few people that can write know anything.”
Shakespeare
Literary Studies (1879)
Context: The reason why so few good books are written is, that so few people that can write know anything. In general an author has always lived in a room, has read books, has cultivated science, is acquainted with the style and sentiments of the best authors, but he is out of the way of employing his own eyes and ears. He has nothing to hear and nothing to see. His life is a vacuum.
“I learned to write by reading the kind of books I wished I'd written.”
As quoted in C.S. Lewis (1963), by Roger Lancelyn Green, p. 9
1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Prophet
Source: The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers. Vol. 1, 1899-1936: The Making of a Detective Novelist
quoted in Marco Belpoliti, " Umberto Eco: How I Wrote my Books http://en.doppiozero.com/materiali/interviste/umberto-eco-how-I-wrote-my-books" (2015)
Preface
Alone (1938)
Context: This book is the account of a personal experience — so personal that for four years I could not bring myself to write it. It is different from anything else I have ever written. My other books have been factual, impersonal narratives of my expeditions and flights. This book, on the other hand, is the story of an experience which was in considerable part subjective. I very nearly died before it was over.
“I have always wanted to write a book that ended with the word 'mayonnaise.”