I'm very much against the notion of the Great Man, the Grea… - John Banville

" "
I'm very much against the notion of the Great Man, the Great Figure who is telling us all how to behave. Writers are just like other people, except slightly more obsessed.

John Banville

Sources available for members. Sign up free to see where this quote comes from

English

Collect this quote

About John Banville

John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist and journalist. He is recognised for his precise, cold, forensic prose style, Nabokovian inventiveness, and for the dark humour of his generally arch narrators. His stated ambition is to give his prose "the kind of denseness and thickness that poetry has".

Also Known As

Alternative Names: Benjamin Black • William John Banville

All quotes from John Banville Similar Quotes by other Originators

Originators like John Banville:

Robertson Davies Martin Amis Grace Paley Caitlín R. Kiernan Nadine Gordimer

Additional quotes by John Banville

The first thought that occurred to me, that night when I heard the chairman of the jury announce my name, was, Just think how many people hate me at this moment. Naturally, I wanted to annoy those people even further by being arrogant.

I was pondering the question, which I have pondered before, of whether such great revelatory moments really so occur, or if it is only that, out of need, our lives so lacking in drama, we invest past events with a significance they do not warrant.

We all yearn in our hearts to be Larkin's "shit in the shuttered chateau", but few of us achieve that grand apotheosis.

I'm very much against the notion of the Great Man, the Great Figure who is telling us all how to behave. Writers are just like other people, except s… - John Banville

About John Banville

Also Known As

Advanced Search Filters

Additional quotes by John Banville

Works in ChatGPT, Claude, or Any AI