A biography for Janet Malcolmhasn’t been written yet.
“My scepticism of biography continues even though I keep doing it.”
“You could say that any book that takes a position is not fair, unless you keep saying, 'On the one hand, on the other...' and take a great deal of trouble to present both sides. That kind of journalism tends not to be very interesting.”
“Biographies never feel as real as the best fiction. There is such a discontinuity between the narrative and the material it comes from, which is always such a mixed bag of letters, recollections, and other data.”
“I don't want to manipulate actuality; I want to record it.”
“As an observer, I'm analysing my reactions, I guess, and my thinking; but about the process of writing... I am not very talented at talking about what I do as a writer.”
“Although psychoanalysis has influenced me personally, it has had curiously little influence on my writing. This may be because writers learn from other writers, not from theories.”
“The autobiographer works in a treacherous terrain. The journalist has a much safer job.”
“'The Rachel Maddow Show' is a piece of sleight of hand presented as a cable news show. It is TV entertainment at its finest.”
“Analysts keep having to pick away at the scab that the patient tries to form between himself and the analyst to cover over his wounds. The analyst keeps the surface raw, so that the wound will heal properly.”
“I don't go out of my way to be friendly, because it's completely unnecessary. People tell you what they are going to tell you no matter what.”