“Tense, unnerved, and close to madness before writing—and when I read what I’ve written it looks so calm.”

—  Peter Handke

Source: Das Gewicht der Welt [The Weight of the World], p. 16

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Tense, unnerved, and close to madness before writing—and when I read what I’ve written it looks so calm." by Peter Handke?
Peter Handke photo
Peter Handke 9
Austrian writer, playwright and film director 1942

Related quotes

Karl Kraus photo

“When I read, it is not acted literature; but what I write is written acting.”

Karl Kraus (1874–1936) Czech playwright and publicist

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Make a habit of reading what is being written today and what has been written before. Writing is learned by imitation.”

William Zinsser (1922–2015) writer, editor, journalist, literary critic, professor

Source: On Writing Well (Fifth Edition, orig. pub. 1976), Chapter 6, Words, p. 36.

Edwidge Danticat photo
Richard Matheson photo

“I hate it when something I’ve had published "inspires" some nut to imitate what I’ve written, or some teacher gets fired for having her students read one of my stories or novels.”

Richard Matheson (1926–2013) American fiction writer

"Ed Gorman Calling: We Talk to Richard Matheson" http://www.mysteryfile.com/Matheson/Interview.html (2004)

Harper Lee photo
Robert Rauschenberg photo
Elie Wiesel photo
Herman Melville photo

“I am madness maddened! That wild madness that's only calm to comprehend itself”

Herman Melville (1818–1891) American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet

Related topics