Es kommt nicht darauf an, wie eine Geschichte anfÀngt. Auch nicht darauf, wie sie aufhört. Sondern auf das, was dazwischen passiert.
In my profession it isnât a question of telling good literature from bad. Really good literature is seldom appreciated in its own day. The best authors die poor, the bad ones make money â itâs always been like that. What do I, an agent, get out of a literary genius who wonât be discovered for another hundred years? Iâll be dead myself then. Successful incompetents are what I need.
I will quote one sentence from this text, namely, the one with which it ended. It was also the sentence which finally dissolved the writerâs block that had inhibited the author from starting work. I have since used it whenever I myself have been gripped by fear of the blank sheet in front of me. It is infallible, and its effect is always the same: the knot unravels and a stream of words gushes out on to the virgin paper. It acts like a magic spell and I sometimes fancy it really is one. But, even if it isnât the work of a sorcerer, it is certainly the most brilliant sentence any writer has ever devised. It runs: âThis is where my story begins.â
Lesen, lesen, immer nur lesen und darĂŒber die eigene erbĂ€rmliche Existenz vergessen!
Lest soviel ihr könnt! Lest StraĂenschilder und Speisekarten, lest die AnschlĂ€ge im BĂŒrgermeisteramt, lest von mir aus Schundliteratur - aber lest! Lest! Sonst seid ihr verloren!
