Author

I found out about reviews early on. They're mostly written by sad men on bad afternoons. That's probably why I'm less angry than some writers, who are so narcissistic they consider every line of every review, even a thoughtful one, as major treason.

From Barry Hannah

Randomness I love. And I still love just a holler right in the middle of an ongoing narrative. Pain or joy, ecstasy.

From Barry Hannah

My best stories come out of nowhere, with no concern for form at all.

From Barry Hannah

Voice comes to you through a spell, a trance. The best voices are not you... they're a little away from you.

From Barry Hannah

A man's got to do what a man's got to do. A woman must do what he can't.

From Barry Hannah

I was always kind of florid. And full of rhetoric. That was my flaw. My whole time writing, I've had to work against that because it can be a wrecking posture.

From Barry Hannah

When you're not involved, other people's unhappiness seems to be about the funniest damn thing on earth because you think you can solve it, that you are God, that you are above this, and that their unhappiness is just such useless toil and agony. If it's you, it ceases to be a comedy.

From Barry Hannah

Some writers are curiously unmusical. I don't get it. I don't get them. For me, music is essential. I always have music on when I'm doing well. Writing and music are two different mediums, but musical phrases can give you sentences that you didn't think you ever had.

From Barry Hannah

I'll tell you why I like writing: it's just jumping into a pool. I get myself into a kind of trance. I engage the world, but it's also wonderful to just escape. I try to find the purities out of the confusion. It's pretty old-fashioned, but it's fun.

From Barry Hannah

I grew up when people seemed actually to be hurting themselves for their art. Of course, some of it was phony.

From Barry Hannah

Barry Hannah

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