The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Quotations

by Peter Kemp (editor)

Here is a delightful and instructive compendium of the most memorable utterances of the world's most quotable writers. The Oxford Book of Literary Quotations covers all aspects of the literary life, from careful assessments of the relative value of literature ("The world must be all fucked up
when men travel first class and literature goes as freight," Gabriel Garcia Marquez) to the modest wish for an attentive audience ("The demand that I make of my reader is that he should devote his whole LIFE to reading my works," James Joyce) to appreciative remarks about their fellow writers
("Gertrude Stein and me are just like brothers," Ernest Hemingway), to reflections on the thrill of publishing ("Being published by the Oxford University Press is rather like being married to a the honour is almost greater than the pleasure," G.M. Young), and much, much more.
Celebrating over 3,000 years of writing, the dictionary's 4,000 quotations are arranged thematically, allowing the reader to dip easily into a chosen topic. Within each topic, the entries are arranged chronologically by author. So, for the section of Earning a Living, we begin with Horace,
writing in the first century B.C. and end with A. S. Byatt, writing in 1995. Full keyword and author indexes ensure that a favorite quotation or author can be located quickly. From Drink and Drugs to Writer's Block, from Love to Literary Theory, from Admiration and Praise to Rivalry and Rejection,
The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Quotations brings us the wittiest, most profound, most surprising, and most memorable words of the world's greatest writers on all aspects of their lives and work.

Genres: Reference, Collections, Writing, Nonfiction, Literary Fiction, Dictionaries

500 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: This new expanded edition of Peter Kemp's acclaimed collection illuminates the world of the writer, from classical literature to crime fiction and from the quill to the PC. Organized by subject, it includes topics ranging from Tools of the Trade and Writer's Block to Ghost Stories and Critics. Shakespeare, Shaw, and Johnson have their say, but authors also include Alice Munro on Illustration and Pushkin on Earning a Living, A. D. Hope on Fables and Fairytales, Rimbaud on Baudelaire and Harold Pinter on Omission. New themes in this edition include Graffiti and Epitaphs, and there are many more quotations by writers on other writers: Ben Okri on Cervantes, Walter de la Mare on Lewis Carroll, and Philip Roth on William Faulkner. The long uphill struggle in playwriting is getting to the top of page one. - Tom Stoppard I'd love to write a book a year, but I don't think I'd have any fans. - Donna Tartt Lads don't write novels. They're down the pub. - Martin Amis on Ladlit You reach an age when every sentence you write bumps into one you wrote thirty years ago. - John Updike Reading...is a strenuous and pleasurable contact sport. - Maureen Howard There were no innocent blondes in crime fiction. - Ed McBain Never make your publisher pay the postage is the first rule of literary life. - Julian Barnes

[Faith-Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful quotation reference book.