John Schlesinger Quotes

For kind of sophisticated art I'm interested in, the larger structural rebuke has to be so subtle that it has to be distributed at an almost sub-atomic level. Otherwise, you fall into the kind of preachy, moralistic fable that I don't think makes for good literature.

One of the biggest problems in literature is the lack of subtlety.

Poetry had far better imply things than preach them directly... in the open pulpit her voice grows hoarse and fails.

My book has a very simple surface, but there are layers of irony and paradox all the way through it.

Lyrics need to be good, but they don't need to be obvious right away.

If a theme or idea is too near the surface, the novel becomes simply a tract illustrating an idea.

Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.

I'm an old English major from way back, so I do have fun tearing apart texts and trying to find the hidden secrets and the subtexts in there.

It is the test of a novel writer's art that he conceal his snake-in-the-grass; but the reader may be sure that it is always there.

I like to play with tropes.

Most of the names in my books have secondary meaning. Sometimes they foreshadow; sometimes they tell you about the character's origin or back story.

I seldom deal in symbolisms; if there be hidden meanings in my verse, they are there without my knowledge.

I usually don't like to 'spoon feed' my audience, because I grew up idolizing story tellers who tell stories using symbolism, so it was in my nature to do the same.

I don't ever get too literal.

Listen to really old blues guys and how they weren't allowed to sing about what they meant; they alluded to things. I find that style amusing, and I think it's a little harder to write.

Sarcasm doesn't read sarcastic in print.

I'm a writer; I like to retain subtlety and nuance.

Two fundamental literary qualities: supernaturalism and irony.

Sarcasm is lost in print.

I've learned that I need to spell out, even in cases seemingly so blatant, that in fact I am not taking this at face value and am being 'sarcastic.'

The purpose of narrative is to present us with complexity and ambiguity.

The secret of it is to read what you've got in front of you. Don't, if you suspect that something has a double meaning, don't pause. Don't put on a leery vocal expression if you know what I mean on radio. Don't sort of do anything other than read it.

Poetry operates by hints and dark suggestions. It is full of secrets and hidden formulae, like a witch's brew.

I say 'as it were' or 'so to speak' too often because puns and double entendres keep insinuating themselves into my consciousness as I'm talking.

What I like in a good author is not what he says but what he whispers.