“Well what of it, no one is without a fetish or two, if he succumbed, now and then, to an instinct that society declaimed, what’s that in comparison to the thousand and one little perversions never splashed across the front page, that their next door neighbour performed, day in, day out, behind council walls, their snug clipped hedges, the aerial tightened after a storm?”

Ann Quin, Berg, 1964.

#amreading #AnnQuin #EnglishLiterature

The so-called mystery of a woman, so involved in the many-sided portraits of herself, eternally eluding one’s grasp, knowing she would lose all if she ever showed her true identity, her real worth. Love is purely a temporary artifice, and why should I disregard the fact, why should I desire to be in the throes of illusion, when I know that love comes in disguises and is rarely recognised at the time or ever appreciated?” [2/2]

Ann Quin, Berg, 1964.

#amreading #AnnQuin #EnglishLiterature

“Isn’t she the very prototype of the woman one dreams of being caught up by, at rest in her omnipotence, knowing her to be ruthless, but never accepting the fact, half the fascination in wondering how far she will go—the wiles, lies, all the vanities accepted, but never quite confronted? [1/2]

#AnnQuin

Oh people are doing favourite authors! Probably forgetting loads, but here’s a few core ones: #UrsulaKLeGuin #OctaviaEButler #AnnQuin #ItaloCalvino #JeanetteWinterson (I know) #MargaretAtwood and early #SalmanRushdie