Faulkner’s ‘As I Lay Dying’ had an immense effect on me, and most of my novels bear the burn marks of this experience, those short chapters with their conflicting points of view, truth expressed by multiple perspectives. The other attractive thing about ‘As I Lay Dying’ was the way it gave rich voices to the poor. Peter Carey Read Quote
I got a job in advertising. So even though I was writing, I was always supporting myself. That’s the thing that would matter for my father, who was absolutely a creature of the Great Depression. Peter Carey Read Quote
I’m always the one with the activist friends. I’ve been an activist very little. Peter Carey Read Quote
I’m someone who always wants to do everything differently. If I have a pattern, I’d rather I didn’t have a pattern. I want every book to be unpredictable and new. Damn it! Peter Carey Read Quote
Nostalgia is something we think of as fuzzy. But it’s pain. Pain concerning the past. Peter Carey Read Quote
My mother was the daughter of a poor schoolteacher – well, that’s a tautology – a country schoolteacher. Peter Carey Read Quote
So in the first draft, I’m inventing people and place with a broad schematic idea of what’s going to happen. In the process, of course, I discover all sorts of bigger and more substantial things. Peter Carey Read Quote
