Probably all of us, writers and readers alike, set out into exile, or at least into a certain kind of exile, when we leave childhood behind...The immigrant, the nomad, the traveler, the sleepwalker all exist, but not the exile, since every writer becomes an exile simply by venturing into literature, and every reader becomes an exile simply by opening a book.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the transformative journey of writers and readers, suggesting that engaging with literature takes them away from their childhood and into a new realm of experience.
Roberto Bolano's quote delves into the idea that literature acts as a form of exile from the innocence and simplicity of childhood. Both writers and readers embark on a journey that disconnects them from their past selves, entering a world that involves complex narratives and emotions. This form of exile is not one of physical displacement, but rather a metaphorical transition into a deeper understanding of life, where the exploration of different perspectives can lead to self-discovery and growth.
In practice
At a literary event discussing the impact of reading on personal growth.
Coincidence obeys no laws and if it does we don't know what they are. Coincidence, if you'll permit me the simile, is like the manifestation of God at every moment on our planet. A senseless God making senseless gestures at his senseless creatures. In that hurricane, in that osseous implosion, we find communion.
The sky, at sunset, looked like a carnivorous flower.
I'd obviously never heard of the group, but my ignorance in literary matters is to blame for that (every book in the world is out there waiting to be read by me).
Every book in the world is out there waiting to be read by me.
Bright colours in the west, giant butterflies dancing as night crept like a cripple toward the east.
Being alone makes us stronger. That’s the honest truth. But it’s cold comfort, since even if I wanted company no one will come near me anymore.
With the marketing pressures driving the book world today, it's much easier to get the author of a memoir on a television show than a serious novelist.
Literature exists so that where one man has lived finely ten thousand may afterward live finely
And I desperately needed books that would take me out of my environment and show me a world where being smart and brave and prepared was more important than being cute or cheerful or knowing the right thing to say. And that's what science fiction and fantasy gave me.
We read in bed because reading is halfway between life and dreaming, our own consciousness in someone else's mind.
The king died and then the queen died is a story. The king died, and then queen died of grief is a plot.
Even though I read voraciously as a child, I never saw myself in books. Without narratives to expand my ideas of who I could be, I accepted the stories others told me about myself, stories which diminished and belittled me and people like me. I want to write against that.
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