“There are many words and phrases that should be forever kept out of the hands of book reviewers. It's sad, but true. And one of these is "self-indulgent."”
(24 July 2005)
Unfit for Mass Consumption (blog entries), 2005
Context: There are many words and phrases that should be forever kept out of the hands of book reviewers. It's sad, but true. And one of these is "self-indulgent." And this is one of those things that strikes me very odd, like reviewers accusing an author of writing in a way that seems "artificial" or "self-conscious." It is, of course, a necessary prerequisite of fiction that one employ the artifice of language and that one exist in an intensely self-conscious state. Same with "self-indulgent." What could possibly be more self-indulgent than the act of writing fantastic fiction? The author is indulging her- or himself in the expression of the fantasy, and, likewise, the readers are indulging themselves in the luxury of someone else's fantasy. I've never written a story that wasn't self-indulgent. Neither has any other fantasy or sf author. We indulge our interests, our obsessions, and assume that someone out there will feel as passionately about X as we do.
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Caitlín R. Kiernan 45
writer 1964Related quotes
Source: Lord Malquist and Mr Moon (1966), Ch. I: Dramatis Personae and Other Coincidences.
The Lewis Carroll Picture Book (1899) p. 3.
Letter to N.M. Ezhov (March 22, 1893)
Letters
“One cannot review a bad book without showing off.”
"Reading", p. 11
The Dyer's Hand, and Other Essays (1962)
Vol. I, bk. 2, ch. 8.
Recollections (1917)
Source: The Tale of Despereaux (2004)
Context: Despereaux looked down at the book, and something remarkable happened. The marks on the pages, the "squiggles" as Merlot referred to them, arranged themselves into shapes. The shapes arranged themselves into words, and the words spelled out a delicious and wonderful phrase: Once upon a time