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" I get the feeling that people from outside the world of contemporary art see it as deserving of mockery, in an emperor's-new-clothes sort of way. I think that's not right and that it's just because they don't understand the discourse. "

Rachel Kushner

Feeling

Art

World

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" A lot of politics in art is just institutional critique, which, in my opinion, is not all that political. "

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" When one is the type of writer who cares about the meaning of the historically specific setting, the history itself is not something that I would call backdrop. It's not window dressing for a timeless relationship about love and betrayal. For me, the setting and the specific history are active co-agents with me in trying to form the novel. "

" When I see things in the world that leap out at me, I want to make use of them in fiction. Maybe every writer does that. It just depends on what you claim or appropriate as yours. "

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" Writing does produce a very unique satisfaction. There are times when I'm writing that it's frustrating or appalling or difficult, but when it goes well, it goes really well, and there is a feeling of rightness, like I'm doing the thing I was meant to do, almost in a mystical way, like I'm at an appropriate angle to the world. "

" I have spent a lot of time in the art world, and I guess I do listen to how people speak. I'm interested in what they say and how they say it. "

" I'm a very interior person. I love silence. I revel in it. I'm happy that way. "

" I try to show ugliness, but with compassion for the people who commit ugly acts. "

" I shy away from plot structure that depends on the characters behaving in ways that are going to eventually be explained by their childhood, or by some recent trauma or event. People are incredibly complicated. Who knows why they are the way they are? "

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" I begin a book with imagery, more than I do with an idea or a character. Some kind of poetic image. "

Rachel Kushner

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" I spent a huge amount of time by myself. I daydreamed and learned how to be alone and not be lonely. "

" I know a little bit about motorcycles and motorcycle riding. "

" Flamethrowers have been used by many armies in many wars, including by American Marines in Korea and Vietnam. They cause horrific deaths and are thus a serious public-relations liability. The U.S. military apparently phased them out in 1978. "

" It's through engagement with the world, and not separation from it, that something with meaning gets produced. "

" Art is about play and about transcendent meanings, not reducible to politics. "

" I have crashed on a motorcycle that was going at 140mph, so I know what it feels like. "

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" I guess I'm not really fond of just chit-chatting. I want to learn something and have an experience. "