POP QUIZ #1: WHAT FAMOUS AUTHOR SAID THIS? (GET SET FOR SOME SURPRISES)

 

Although I thought I knew well the authors in my Letters to Men of Letters, in the course of writing to them, I have come across many surprising quotes. In subsequent posts, I’ll be mentioning some of them, and I will be interested to see if they ring bells for other readers. I thought it might be fun to do this as a little quiz. 

Here come the first quotes— what famous author said this?

BIG hint: this time, all three quotes are from the same author. 

Choose from this list of some of the Men of Letters to whom I write: 

Franz Kafka

Gustave Flaubert

Honoré de Balzac

 

(Of course you can find the answers in my Letters to Men of Letters)

 

“Writing is a dog’s life but the only life worth living,” and the odorously colorful “Sometimes I think I’m liquefying like an old Camembert.” 

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“It is splendid to be a great writer, to put men into the frying pan of your words and make them pop like chestnuts….For better or worse it is a delicious thing to write, to be no longer yourself, but to move in an entire universe of your own creating.”

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“If you participate actively in life, you don’t see it clearly: You suffer from it too much or enjoy it too much...The artist must be a freak of nature, an oddity outside ordinary life, a monster of sorts...So, I am resigned to living as I have lived: Alone, with my throng of great men as my only cronies..., with my bear rug as company.”

 

***The answer will appear in the next Pop Quiz.