I was by now used to people being surprised by me and my background, and their surprise offended me. I was always having to be what I was looking for… - Alexander Chee

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I was by now used to people being surprised by me and my background, and their surprise offended me. I was always having to be what I was looking for in the world, wishing the person I would become already existed — some other I before me. I was forever finding even the tiniest way to identify with someone to escape how empty the world seemed to be of what I was.

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About Alexander Chee

Alexander Chee (born August 21, 1967) is an American fiction writer, poet, journalist and reviewer.

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Additional quotes by Alexander Chee

My mother's most common childhood memory of me is standing next to me trying to be heard over the voice on the page. I didn't really commit to writing until I understood that it meant making that happen for someone else.
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Novels are delicate when they are being written, if also voracious. They move around my rooms, stripping half-finished poems of their lines, stealing ideas from unfinished essays, diaries, letters, and sometimes each other. Sometimes, by the time I get to them, one has taken a huge bite from the other.
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