A biography for Colson Whiteheadhasn’t been written yet.
“I like to know how I'm supposed to feel about things. Just a little clue or hint.”
“I'm raising kids, and so much of American culture sustains me and gives me things to think about and work on.”
“Some people don't like my fiction, because they prefer the nonfiction. But moving around keeps the work fresh for me and, hopefully, for my one or two readers who follow me from book to book!”
“Here's a tip for new parents: Start lowering those expectations early, it's going to pay off later.”
“Mark Spitz didn't ask about Harry. You never asked about the characters that disappeared from a Last Night story. You knew the answer. The plague had a knack for narrative closure.”
“In '82 and '83, that was the rise of the VCR. Every Friday, my brother and I would go to Crazy Eddie's - which was a video store in Manhattan - and rent five horror movies. And that's basically what we did, basically, for three years. Becoming social misfits.”
“I like questions that tee me up to make weird jokes, frankly.”
“Monsters are a storytelling tool, like domestic realism and close third.”
“Slavery was a violent, brutal, immoral system, and in accurately depicting how it worked, you have to include that, obviously. Or else you are lying.”
“'Sag Harbor' was a very different book for me. It changed the way I thought about books that I wanted to do.”
“In the apocalypse, I think those average, mediocre folks are the ones who are going to live.”
“In America, when you hear about the Underground Railroad, it's so evocative. You think it's a literal subway for a few minutes before your teacher goes on and describes where it actually was.”
“If you're writing a detective novel or horror or sci-fi, you want to expand or reinvigorate the genre in your own little way.”
“There are good writers and bad writers. It's hard to find writers who really speak to you, but the work is out there.”
“There was one moment of intersection, when the topic of hate-watching came up. "Why do you watch TV shows--and keep watching them--if you don't like them?" Terrence asked.Simple: Some days, all you have is gazing upon horror, and the small comfort of being surprised that it is not yours.”
“You can raze the old buildings and erect magnificent corporate towers, hose down Port Authority, but you can't change people.”
“I've always thought the Nat Turner story to be very interesting.”
“I'm not a representative of blackness, and I'm not a healer.”
“As it often did when I thought about chicken wings and entropy, my mind turned to Emerson. "Life is a journey, not a destination." Now that was one stone-cold motherfucker who was not afraid to deliver the truth: After the torments of the journey, you have been well-prepared for the agonies of the destination.”
“There's always an attack on the sophomore novel from some quarters.”