Charyn Quotes & Sayings

Emily Dickinson has haunted my life - her poems, her persona, all the tales about her solitude. Ever since I discovered her in the seventh grade, I've had a crush on that spinster in white, who had such a heroic and startling inner landscape of her own. — Jerome Charyn

Many of the writers I admire - Melville, Dickinson, Kafka - were virtually invisible during their lifetimes. Art, I think, often has to dance around in the void. — Jerome Charyn

The one who reigns must die,
At the hands of she born last,
And the last will make the first,
When the bastard twins are one,
And blessed be the newborn King,
For Charyn will be barren no more. — Melina Marchetta

I only know one word. It means friend. I said it in her ear 'Sora. Sora. Sora.'"
"And who taught you this Charynite word for friend?"
"Phaedra of Alonso did. She said it was the prettiest word in Charyn."
And Lucien ached to hear those words. — Melina Marchetta

Only a crazy man would write a novel in Lincoln's voice. — Jerome Charyn

It's not that I like you least [ ... ] it's that I feared you most. The reginita taught me to like you. There was a strange joy to her that lifted my spirits. But you, Quintana of Charyn, you made me love you. — Melina Marchetta

Compared with my brother, I always felt like Richard III, some clever humpbacked thing who surpassed him in the end. He was the one who read books, but I became the writer. He painted and drew, but I was the one who got accepted by the High School of Music and Art. — Jerome Charyn

Some readers may be disturbed that I wrote 'The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson' in Emily's own voice. I wasn't trying to steal her thunder or her music. I simply wanted to imagine my way into the head and heart of Emily Dickinson. — Jerome Charyn

Quintana of Charyn's body was a map of hatred. — Melina Marchetta

I dreamed my way into Lincoln and the details that moved me - his lack of education or 'civilized' manners and his deep connection to all humankind. — Jerome Charyn

Lincoln prevailed: wearing his green shawl in the White House and gripped with melancholy, his feet constantly cold, he preserved a nation that had begun to unravel, often holding it together with nothing more than the flat of his hand and his unfaltering sense of human worth. — Jerome Charyn

Why else do we write and write except to move our readers? — Jerome Charyn

stillborn love notes provide small satisfaction — Jerome Charyn

Why question what Froi of Lumatere was doing here?' he asked.' When you should be questioning what would have happened to Charyn if he hadn't been here. Who else would have saved Gargarin of Abroi from the street lords? ... 'Who would have saved Quintana of Charyn from hanging? Who would have rescued her from Tariq of Lascow's compound? Who would have sent her to a safe place to birth the cursebreaker? Blah, blah, blah. I'm bored now,' Finnikin said, looking around. — Melina Marchetta

Froi fell in love. He didn't want to. Not with a Charyn city. But he did because people didn't stand around in Paladozza and stare suspiciously, They sat around and spoke to each other and laughed. — Melina Marchetta

It was difficult to find my way into 'I Am Abraham,' to feel confident enough to inhabit Lincoln's persona. I began with a prologue in a neutral voice, wrote of Lincoln at the White House with a sly young reporter quizzing him about his humble origins. — Jerome Charyn

Charyn, like Nabokov, is that most fiendish sort of writer-so seductive as to beg imitation, so singular as to make imitation impossible. — Tom Bissell

I can say without melodrama or malice that Hollywood ruined my life. — Jerome Charyn

I believe in monstrosities, and 'I Am Abraham' is a monstrosity of sorts, raveling out moment by moment with its contrapuntal songs, as if a band of musicians were at play, all of them with Lincoln's beard and disturbing grey eyes. — Jerome Charyn

What I find curious is that I ever became a writer at all. I grew up in the South Bronx, the land of poverty and petty hoodlums. — Jerome Charyn

I lay down beside Carlo in his bassinet. I must have been there five or six hours, my arm around his neck, and would have stayed another six if Pa-pa hadn't started tugging at me. He would tell people how I had all the strength of a steam engine, and that he couldn't pull me loose until I heard Ma-am cry.
"Em," she moaned, "you cannot stay in this room forever with a dead dog. — Jerome Charyn

Then she was laughing. They both were, and the savage teeth were the most joyous sight Phaedra had seen for a long time. It was as if they were dancing. There it was. Suddenly the strangeness of Quintana of Charyn's face made sense. Because it was a face meant for laughing, but it had never been given a chance. — Melina Marchetta

Because I remembered your words," she said quietly. "I remembered that you liked me least. You said it in my palace chamber. 'Have one of the others wake me, for I like you least.'" She turned to face him and brushed tears fiercely from her face. "Sometimes when I see what's left of Quintana of Charyn through my own eyes, I think I can learn to love her. But when I see her through your eyes, I despise her." If she saw Quintana of Charyn through Froi's eyes, he knew she'd see a part of himself. — Melina Marchetta

Froi didn't know where home was anymore. He wanted to return to Lumatere, and he wanted to stay in Charyn. What strangeness was that? To belong in two kingdoms. He felt a sob rise within him that he swallowed hard the moment he felt Lirah and Gargarin at his shoulders. — Melina Marchetta

We're the country of movie stars because the stars, like ourselves, represent a kind of extended infantilism, beauties waiting for the big chance. — Jerome Charyn

I had a terror - since September - I could tell to none - and so I sing, as the Boy does by the Burying Ground - — Jerome Charyn

There it was. Suddenly the strangeness of Quintana of Charyn's face made sense. Because it was a face meant for laughing, but it had never been given a chance. It robbed Phaedra of her breath. — Melina Marchetta

'Empire of Self' is a loving portrait of a very difficult man. Jay Parini, himself a gifted novelist, poet and biographer, has gone very deep into the 'black energy' of Gore Vidal's relentless narcissism and megalomania. Parini envisions an epic battle between Vidal's angelic and demonic sides, yet there's very little of the angel in Vidal. — Jerome Charyn

Are you calling us pigs?' Froi asked, watching as Rafuel winced for the tenth time at the formality of Froi's Charyn.Rafuel thought for a moment and then nodded.'Actually yes, I am. Pig-like.'Froi turned back to Trevanion and Perri, who were discussing the need for longbow training in the rock village.'What is it?' Perri asked Froi.'He said we eat like pigs.'Trevanion and Perri thought about it for a moment and then went back to their conversation. — Melina Marchetta

'Suttree' is a fat one, a book with rude, startling power and a flood of talk. Much of it takes place on the Tennessee River, and Cormac McCarthy, who has written 'The Orchard Keeper' and other novels, gives us a sense of river life that reads like a doomed 'Huckleberry Finn.' — Jerome Charyn