Harry Mathews Quotes

A collection of quotes by Harry Mathews.

Harry Mathews (1930-2017) was an American author known for his contributions to the avant-garde literary movement, particularly the "Oulipo" school of literature. Born in New York City, Mathews attended both Princeton University and Harvard University, where he studied music and English. He later settled in Europe, spending much of his life living in France.

Mathews was an innovative and experimental writer, mixing different genres and challenging traditional narratives. He was associated with the Oulipo movement, a group of writers and mathematicians who aimed to create literature using constrained writing techniques and mathematical principles. Mathews' works often incorporated puzzles, games, and formal constraints, showcasing his fascination with wordplay and intellectual playfulness.

His notable works include "The Conversions" (1962), an enigmatic novel; "Tlooth" (1966), a detective story-like tale with an intricate plot; and "Cigarettes" (1987), a collection of short stories that defy conventional storytelling techniques. Mathews also translated the works of several French authors, including Georges Perec.

Throughout his career, Mathews received numerous awards and recognitions for his contributions to literature, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Mathews' writing continues to inspire and captivate readers with its ingenious and thought-provoking approach to storytelling.

What I wanted to do and what I needed to do was something en

What I wanted to do and what I needed to do was something entirely different, and through reading Roussel I learned that I could do what I wanted all on my own and that I didn't have to rely on what had actually happened in my somewhat limited life and reading.

Harry Mathews

Life Reading

Music had been my first love among the arts, and I was fasci

Music had been my first love among the arts, and I was fascinated by it, as I still am.

Harry Mathews

Music Art Love

My next project is to get back to that. Actually, to learn h

My next project is to get back to that. Actually, to learn how to write poetry. I'm not kidding.

Harry Mathews

Poetry

Well, my relationship to America at the time I left was very

Well, my relationship to America at the time I left was very limited.

Harry Mathews

Relationship

Well, I had this little notion - I started writing when I wa

Well, I had this little notion - I started writing when I was eleven, writing poetry. I was passionately addicted to it it was my great refuge through adolescence.

Harry Mathews

Poetry

Well, the great thing for me about poetry is that in good po

Well, the great thing for me about poetry is that in good poems the dislocation of words, that is to say, the distance between what they say they're saying and what they are actually saying is at its greatest.

Harry Mathews

Poetry

Syntax and vocabulary are overwhelming constraints --the rul

Syntax and vocabulary are overwhelming constraints --the rules that run us. Language is using us to talk --we think we're using the language, but language is doing the thinking, we're its slavish agents.

Harry Mathews

Language

A man is too apt to forget that in this world he cannot have

A man is too apt to forget that in this world he cannot have everything. A choice is all that is left him.

Harry Mathews

Choice

Translation is the paradigm, the exemplar of all writing. It

Translation is the paradigm, the exemplar of all writing. It is translation that demonstrates most vividly the yearning for transformation that underlies every act involving speech, that supremely human gift.

Harry Mathews

Translation