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“Fictions exist because of this fact. Because we have only one life, and our desires and fantasies demand a thousand lives. Because the abyss between what we are and what we would like to be has to be bridged somehow. That was why fictions were born: so that, through living this vicarious, transient, precarious, but also passionate and fascinating life that fiction transports us to, we can incorporate the impossible into the possible and our existence can be both reality and unreality, history and fable, concrete life and marvellous adventure.”
― The Temptation of the Impossible: Victor Hugo and Les Misérables
― The Temptation of the Impossible: Victor Hugo and Les Misérables
“If in this address I were to summon all the writers to whom I owe a few things or a great deal, their shadows would plunge us into darkness. They are innumerable. In addition to revealing the secrets of the storytelling craft, they obliged me to explore the bottomless depths of humanity, admire its heroic deeds and feel horror at its savagery.”
― In Praise of Reading and Fiction: The Nobel Lecture
― In Praise of Reading and Fiction: The Nobel Lecture
“And on the horizon, along the Cordillera where rock and sky met, there was that strange color, somewhere between violet and purple, which he had seen reproduced on so many Indian skirts and shawls and on the woolen bags the campesinos hung from the ears of their llamas; for him it was the color of the Andes, of this mysterious, violent sierra.
Besides, thanks to these hills, Naccos had an aura, a magic power. Danger always attracts us. Doesn’t it represent true life, life that’s worthwhile? But security is boredom, it’s stupidity, it’s death. These mountains are full of ancient tombs.Without those presences there wouldn’t be so many spirits in this part of the Andes.
In the old days people had the courage to face great troubles by making sacrifices. That’s how they maintained the balance. Life and death like a scale with two equal weights, like two rams of equal strength that lock horns and neither one can advance or retreat.”
― Death in the Andes
Besides, thanks to these hills, Naccos had an aura, a magic power. Danger always attracts us. Doesn’t it represent true life, life that’s worthwhile? But security is boredom, it’s stupidity, it’s death. These mountains are full of ancient tombs.Without those presences there wouldn’t be so many spirits in this part of the Andes.
In the old days people had the courage to face great troubles by making sacrifices. That’s how they maintained the balance. Life and death like a scale with two equal weights, like two rams of equal strength that lock horns and neither one can advance or retreat.”
― Death in the Andes
“Il n'y a rien de mieux qu'un roman pour faire comprendre que la réalité est mal faite, qu’elle n’est pas suffisante pour satisfaire les désirs, les appétits, les rêves humains.”
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“The simple fact is that he didn’t write what he saw but what he felt and believed, what those all around him felt and believed. That’s how that whole tangled web of false stories and humbug got woven, becoming so intricate that there is now no way to disentangle it.”
― The War of the End of the World
― The War of the End of the World
Readers of Every Realm
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A vibrant gathering place for readers who wander through every corner of the literary universe. From sweeping romances to gripping thrillers, from epi ...more
Adapting novels into films directed on Hollywood sets
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Hello, I have started the journey to adapt books, into a film. Our target is Hollywood. That is why I am offering the written story for those interest ...more
Mariette’s 2025 Year in Books
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