Saturday, April 14, 2007

After all everybody, that is, everybody who writes is interested in living inside themselves in order to tell what is inside themselves. That is why writers have to have two countries, the one where they belong and the one in which they live really. The second one is romantic, it is separate from themselves, it is not real but it is really there.
–Gertrude Stein

Thank you again to blue Vicar
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7 comments:

  1. Anil PSaturday, 14 April, 2007

    And then comes a time when they believe the two are one and the same, and end up living in neither. Then they are called the Wanderers.

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  2. Di MackeySaturday, 14 April, 2007

    And maybe it's not such a bad thing because then perhaps they can come close to telling stories that ignore the manmade constructions of nationalism, colour and identity based on the society around them?

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  3. paris parfaitSaturday, 14 April, 2007

    Love this quote - so true. Anyone who's ever lived in more than one place is never completely at home anywhere, because we're always missing at least parts of another place.And so we observe our surroundings and write.

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  4. S.R. PiccoliSaturday, 14 April, 2007

    Hi Di, Gertrude Stein's quote vaguely reminds me of another quote:

    "What affects men sharply about a foreign nation is not so much finding or not finding familiar things; it is rather not finding them in the familiar place.
    --Gilbert Keith Chesterton

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  5. Di MackeySaturday, 14 April, 2007

    Hi Tara, Henri Cartier-Bresson once said that we should learn to see our own country as if we are strangers ... something like that, it was years ago and I lived in one place for the first 20 years of my life. I liked the idea and tried it however ... I prefer the wandering life and the chance to observe everyone else out here in the world.

    Ciao Rob, e grazie. I do love quotes.

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  6. blueVicarMonday, 14 January, 2008

    It's been a long time in coming...just tidying up a bit over at blueVicar...but I've added your blog to my list of links. I try to put a link to every site where the author leaves a jotting...

    Better late than never?

    Meilleurs voeux!!

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  7. Di MackeyTuesday, 15 January, 2008

    Thanks Blue Vicar. It was good to see you pop up here, as I make notes on my blog as if writing in a journal, and I forget great finds as time passes ...

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