There's a half-conscious state you enter when you're actually generating prose, and you are simply a better writer in that place. In fact it's the only place where you even are a writer. John Jeremiah Sullivan consciousenterfact Change image and share on social
This to me is the secret comedy of all author interviews, down through the ages, even the good ones in the 'Paris Review' and places. They're all acting. It's like watching a person in a play. John Jeremiah Sullivan actageauthor Change image and share on social
At 'GQ,' there was never a temptation to pander or preach to the choir because I had no concept of who the reader was or what that reader might want. John Jeremiah Sullivan choirconceptpander Change image and share on social
I want to stay in touch with what I have in common with my subjects, with the places where are equally implicated with whatever is wrong with the culture. John Jeremiah Sullivan commoncultureequally Change image and share on social
As the planet warms, evolution speeds. We've known this for a long time. John Jeremiah Sullivan evolutionhavelong Change image and share on social
Ireland starts for me with the end of 'The Dead,' which my father read to me from his desk in his basement office in New Albany, Ind. John Jeremiah Sullivan albanybasementdead Change image and share on social
The initial research will be very indiscriminate. I do a lot of reading, buy a stack of books and read and digest them, and then I start doing phone interviews and archival research and then the travelling. John Jeremiah Sullivan archivalbookbuy share on social
Thinking you're a genius is death. John Jeremiah Sullivan deathgeniusthink Change image and share on social
Going to any place that you view as more politically oppressed than your own country, there's a weird tendency to assume that the whole existence is determined minute by minute by the political reality, but of course, that's not the case for any of us. John Jeremiah Sullivan assumecasecountry share on social
It is a curious fact that the word 'essayist' showed up in English before it existed in French. John Jeremiah Sullivan curiousenglishessayist Change image and share on social
