NationStates Jolt Archive

Stemming from the ¨Favorite Literary Quotes¨ thread, which authors have touched your life enough to encourage you to do something or offer solace in a particular difficult time of your life?

I´ve been greatly influenced and touched by the literary masterpieces of writers like Xaviel Vilareyo, Jordi Doce, María Teresa González, Alfonso Camín, the great Pelayo Fueyo, Colmbian luminarie Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jorge Isaacs, Anne Rice, Stan Rice, Caseal Mór, Lady Gregory, Neil Gaiman, Isabel Allende, Katherine Borchardt, R.A. Salvatore, amongst others.

Only George Orwell. He touched me down there in a bad place, and I haven't been the same since.

Should I be getting on the couch?

Only George Orwell. He touched me down there in a bad place, and I haven't been the same since.

Should I be getting on the couch?

ROFL!
George Orwell has touched a lot of people in a wrong way, myself included.;)

Get thee off to the couch, I suppose. What for, though?

Get thee off to the couch, I suppose. What for, though?

My clear and present psychological issues from being molested by George Orwell.

My clear and present psychological issues from being molested by George Orwell.

Let me get my writing pad.
*sits crossed legged and begins to listen*
And when did this molestation started?

Let me get my writing pad.
*sits crossed legged and begins to listen*
And when did this molestation started?

I was going to come up with something witty and clever to respond with, but I'm drawing a blank. I've got nothing.

I was going to come up with something witty and clever to respond with, but I'm drawing a blank. I've got nothing.

That happens with suppressed memories, you know.

That happens with suppressed memories, you know.

Clever, yet odd you bring it up.

Anthony Burgess for clockwork oranges ending...maybe

really I would say writers really touch me they more talk to me in a slightly unnerving way (Michel Foucault)

Clever, yet odd you bring it up.

And why is that?

Anthony Burgess for clockwork oranges ending...maybe

really I would say writers really touch me they more talk to me in a slightly unnerving way (Michel Foucault)

Ah, Michel Foucault and Charles Baudelaire can do that to people.

And why is that?

Because I actually don't have any memories between 3-11. That's always bothered me. I've got one at 3, and then no more until I was 11.

Because I actually don't have any memories between 3-11. That's always bothered me. I've got one at 3, and then no more until I was 11.

Well, that is odd, but I don´t think it´s unheard of. My brother says he doesn´t remember anything from ages 3 to 7.

Well, that is odd, but I don´t think it´s unheard of. My brother says he doesn´t remember anything from ages 3 to 7.

Maybe nothing interesting happened from 3-11.

Maybe nothing interesting happened from 3-11.

Perhaps, but it´s still a long interval of not remembering anything.

Perhaps, but it´s still a long interval of not remembering anything.

I've always thought so, but I asked my brother about it and he said that nothing odd ever happened. I apparently just don't remember.

I've always thought so, but I asked my brother about it and he said that nothing odd ever happened. I apparently just don't remember.

Has to be what you said on your last post. Nothing of importance happened to you during those years and that´s why there´s nothing to remember.

Has to be what you said on your last post. Nothing of importance happened to you during those years and that´s why there´s nothing to remember.

Well, still - you'd think there would be a first day of kindergarten (or one of those years of school), the day I tested high and was moved into all advanced classes, or a girl a bully or something, but there isn't anything.

Well, still - you'd think there would be a first day of kindergarten (or one of those years of school), the day I tested high and was moved into all advanced classes, or a girl a bully or something, but there isn't anything.

Have you considered talking to a professional? I mean, if the absence of those memories bothers you enough...

I find that as I grow older, some things that happened to me while I was a little girl and that were kind of clear a few years ago, are now blurry to me. And I can´t seem to recall some details. Must be that I´m leading a fast life. Who knows.

Have you considered talking to a professional? I mean, if the absence of those memories bothers you enough...

I find that as I grow older, some things that happened to me while I was a little girl and that were kind of clear a few years ago, are now blurry to me. And I can´t seem to recall some details. Must be that I´m leading a fast life. Who knows.

Maybe we're suffering from senility?

Maybe we're suffering from senility?

Oh my, senility at our age?
Could be. Could be.

Oh my, senility at our age?
Could be. Could be.

We're living so fast that we're getting old quick.

We're living so fast that we're getting old quick.

Tell me about it, mate. There are times that, if I´m off, I sleep for hours on end and lose track of time. My mother says that that´s because of my work schedule and my life in general.:p

Tell me about it, mate. There are times that, if I´m off, I sleep for hours on end and lose track of time. My mother says that that´s because of my work schedule and my life in general.:p

That's your first problem. We need to get you away from your parents. They'll make you senile with their constant badgering and opinions. You just want to forget what they say so badly that you start forgetting everything.

That's your first problem. We need to get you away from your parents. They'll make you senile with their constant badgering and opinions. You just want to forget what they say so badly that you start forgetting everything.

The funny thing is that I live by myself with my fiance, not with my mother. :p

The funny thing is that I live by myself with my fiance, not with my mother. :p

Still sounds like she's badgering you.

EDIT: How do you live by yourself with your fiance?

Still sounds like she's badgering you.

EDIT: How do you live by yourself with your fiance?

My mom´s always badgering. I guess that´s what mothers do.

LOL! Sorry. I meant to say that I live with my fiance.

My mom´s always badgering. I guess that´s what mothers do.

This is why I screen my calls. My mother is granted two phone calls per month.

This is why I screen my calls. My mother is granted two phone calls per month.

ROFL! I guess I should start using your method.

ROFL! I guess I should start using your method.

It works. Don't announce your intention to relegate her to two calls per month. Just gradually whittle her down. Like, right now, if she called every day, I would start whittling her down to 3 per week, then one per week, then gradually spread them out until it's every other week.

It works. Don't announce your intention to relegate her to two calls per month. Just gradually whittle her down. Like, right now, if she called every day, I would start whittling her down to 3 per week, then one per week, then gradually spread them out until it's every other week.

Gotcha!

Gotcha!

If you announce your intentions, it will start a good 3 hour argument that you don't want to have. Just be sneaky, like me.

The sheer irony being that today is, in fact, mother's day.

The sheer irony being that today is, in fact, mother's day.

I was with her and both my grandmothers all day.
My mother is pretty cool, it´s just that she over stresses herself with worry for both me and my brother.

I was with her and both my grandmothers all day.
My mother is pretty cool, it´s just that she over stresses herself with worry for both me and my brother.

I know, we're just discussing how to dodge and evade her on the day that is supposedly dedicated to her.

The irony is delicious.

I know, we're just discussing how to dodge and evade her on the day that is supposedly dedicated to her.

The irony is delicious.

Yeah, irony, when properly used, can cause intense delight.

Yeah, irony, when properly used, can cause intense delight.

Btw - I hijacked this thread in record time.

Btw - I hijacked this thread in record time.

Yup. But it´s not like there were throngs of NSGers lining up to post.:p

Yup. But it´s not like there were throngs of NSGers lining up to post.:p

That's because no one likes posting in your threads.

That's because no one likes posting in your threads.

Yeah, must be that.:p
Why do you think that happens with poor Nanatsu?

Aulduous Huxley, JK Rowler [yeah HP!], Max Barry, Richard Clarke, others....

I remember reading an email about... 2000-era, in which the author (a Catholic) was discussing the preoccupation with the abortion issue during the election. At the time I also was preoccupied with it; this single email made me "put things into perspective", as it were. Instead being interested in ideology I became much more interested in achievable goals - whatever those goals may be. I thank you, sir, whoever you are.

Another time, a professor of mine introduced me to the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Since then I've become very conscious of language as a tool and also as a thing of immensely complex beauty. Another result of this consciousness is that I've discovered I really enjoy learning and doing maths now, a subject that I've disliked since high school.

A book I once read by Garth Nix, Sabriel, inspired me to take drawing classes. Since then I've changed my major to graphics design and studio art.

I suppose authors have made some pretty significant influences on my life. :p

A book I once read by Garth Nix, Sabriel, inspired me to take drawing classes. Since then I've changed my major to graphics design and studio art.

I suppose authors have made some pretty significant influences on my life. :p

Oh, Sabriel. I read that one, and then the continuation called Lirael. And finally the last book called Abhorsen. Garth Nix is a wonderful writer.

Oh, Sabriel. I read that one, and then the continuation called Lirael. And finally the last book called Abhorsen. Garth Nix is a wonderful writer.Indeed. I had the opportunity to listen to him give a talk when he came to my city while touring for Across the Wall a couple of years ago. He is a very nice man in person, as well as an interesting speaker - and I got all my Old Kingdom books signed in the bargain. Sweet deal. :D

George Orwell and Orson Scott Card are the two writers who, in my opinion, shaped my worldview the most. Without them, I'd still be Christian.

Orwell destroyed all the faith I had in anything and inspired a month or so of Descartes-like thinking. I came out of it after reading Xenocide and creating a new model of reality, one that didn't depend on the existence of any sort of deity.

Nietzsche is the only writer whose had any noticable impact on me, unfortunately...

Would songwriters count as writers?

Would songwriters count as writers?

I hope this isn't a prelude to another long post by you on how you found those old Donnie Osmond records in your father's collection and life's never been the same since.

We've heard it already.

Robert Anton Wilson
Douglas R. Hofstadter

I hope this isn't a prelude to another long post by you on how you found those old Donnie Osmond records in your father's collection and life's never been the same since.

We've heard it already.

It was back in the 90's when we were moving to another town... a town 30 miles away from my home, give or take 500 miles. It was a cold day, a dark day, but there was..a glimmer perhaps. Yes, a glimmer that I spied coming from one of the boxes containing the records. Aye, the records....
Who the hell is Donnie Osmond?

Sun-Tzu

Fun topic!

Many writers have touched my life. Perhaps the writer who introduced me to radical politics was Howard Zinn. Later I read Noam Chomsky, whose critique of the State is devastating, in my opinion. He is also the only writer ever to make me cry. Murray Bookchin gives a very passionate but level headed critique of fucktard liberal and anarchist politics and offers a community oriented approach to an anti-authoritarian, ecological society. Derrick Jensen has a terrific prose style as well as many good things to say, despite being a primitivist.

It was back in the 90's when we were moving to another town... a town 30 miles away from my home, give or take 500 miles. It was a cold day, a dark day, but there was..a glimmer perhaps. Yes, a glimmer that I spied coming from one of the boxes containing the records. Aye, the records....

...and from then on, the hair could never be bouffant enough, the suits could not shine in white, nor have enough glitter to match your hero. Life changed, and for the better.

Who the hell is Donnie Osmond?

Don't be coy.

And Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times."

Meanwhile, a musical interlude...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWczhrC8yYY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWczhrC8yYY&feature=related

That kid apparently has some sort of muscular problem that doesn't allow him to stand straight up or move without swaying the upper half of his body like a sapling in the wind.

But I want his clothes.

John O'Donohue, Victor Hugo, Edgar Allan Poe, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Ovid just to start with ;)

Kurt Vonnegut.

Bear Grylls.

Samuel Beckett, I'd say. After reading Waiting for Godot I started writing plays. Jack Kerouac in the usual ways, William S. Burroughs to fix that.

Camus. Which explains my sour disposition towards most thing, but I digress.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery,

French bastard :p. I probably would have liked Le Petite Prince more had I read it on my own.

In English.

Bear Grylls.

Nothing like the philosophy of fake survival.

I find that as I grow older, some things that happened to me while I was a little girl and that were kind of clear a few years ago, are now blurry to me. And I can´t seem to recall some details. Must be that I´m leading a fast life. Who knows.

Things that were unresolved get remembered. As they get resolved, you find it harder to remember them. At least that's how my therapist explained it, said one who does see a professional.

Robert Heinlein

Ayn Rand

P.J. O'Rourke

William F. Buckley

Rudyard Kipling

George Orwell

H. Rider Haggard

Whittaker Chambers

C.S. Lewis

G.K. Chesterton

John Bunyan

and The Bible (various authors)

Spanning the 20-odd years I've been reading: Jean Auel, Kage Baker, Tadeusz Borowski, Orson Scott Card, Michael Chabon, e. e. cummings, Jogn Darnielle, Olena Kalytiak Davis, John Donne, Neil Gaiman, Robert Heinlein, Tanya Huff, John Irving, Chip Kidd, Madeleine L'Engle, Harper Lee, Primo Levi, Shirley Meier, Sylvia Plath, Betty Smith.

I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind right now.

Have you considered talking to a professional? I mean, if the absence of those memories bothers you enough...

I find that as I grow older, some things that happened to me while I was a little girl and that were kind of clear a few years ago, are now blurry to me. And I can´t seem to recall some details. Must be that I´m leading a fast life. Who knows.

This has become increasingly disturbing to me. Yesterday for Mother's Day I took my mom to Santa Cruz, and after we did a bunch of stuff we drove up to the school for a walk. As I walked around my old campus, I could remember class I'd taken and parties I'd been to, the paths I'd taken from each building to the next (it's a huge campus), but it was fuzzy and indistinct, like a story someone had told me about their own life. It didn't feel like I had actually done those things. Does that happen to anyone else? Is it just getting older?

George Orwell and Orson Scott Card are the two writers who, in my opinion, shaped my worldview the most. Without them, I'd still be Christian.

Orwell destroyed all the faith I had in anything and inspired a month or so of Descartes-like thinking. I came out of it after reading Xenocide and creating a new model of reality, one that didn't depend on the existence of any sort of deity.

That's funny to me, because I love Ender's Game so much, tolerated Speaker for the Dead more or less cheerily, and threw Xenocide across the room after about two pages.

Card also gave me a lot of ideas about religion and humanism and interconnectedness, though. Which is also kind of interesting, 'cause isn't he Mormon?

Robert Heinlein

Ayn Rand

and The Bible (various authors)

I love that Heinlein is literally a god to some nutjobs.

I can't stand Ayn Rand. I think Orwell would've pointed at her and gone "Thank goodness you people didn't listen to her and proved me wrong."

You mean Jesus didn't write the bible? :eek:

That's funny to me, because I love Ender's Game so much, tolerated Speaker for the Dead more or less cheerily, and threw Xenocide across the room after about two pages.


Seconded. Ender's Shadow was pretty good, though. It lived up to the promise of the first one.

Nietzsche is the only writer whose had any noticable impact on me, unfortunately...

Ouch. God isn't dead, he's just in jail.

I never learned to read

Ouch. God isn't dead, he's just in jail.


during a really long game of monopoly

Isabel Allende does great historical fiction. Paulo Freire was a good read during my teacher training. I used to really love Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but I got bored with him. An Albertan Metis elder, Maria Campbell, wrote a book called "Halfbreed (http://books.google.ca/books?id=lTDbca4D_Z4C&dq=novel+halfbreed&pg=PP1&ots=Dz2dRMA7mG&sig=FkZsAJo9IxdJb3vq_IFhGYlkf68&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.ca/search%3Fsourceid%3Dnavclient%26ie%3DUTF-8%26rlz%3D1T4GWYE_enCA261CA261%26q%3Dnovel%2Bhalfbreed&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail#PPP1,M1)" which had a real impact on me. Also, many of Vine Deloria Jr.'s books have had a huge impact.

I defintely have noticed a change in my interests when it comes to reading. When I was younger, I devoured fantasy/sci-fi. When I was in my late teens, I discovered latin american authors (mostly because people kept giving me books as I travelled) and fell in love with magical realism. In my early 20s, I became more interested in historical fiction and non-fantasy-fiction, as well as 'the classics' (Victor Hugo being a particular favourite). Mid-20s...my interests turned almost entirely to academic work on aboriginal rights, as my interest in general turned back to my own people, rather than focusing so much on other peoples' culture.

I continue to have a diverse interest in literature, and although I read less for pleasure at the moment (and more for academic survival), I still manage. Oh, and having children has given me a fantastic excuse to read a lot of children's books :D More and more, I want to read stories about my own people...because there is a paucity of works in that regard, especially written BY us rather than about us.

Most of the books I've read, I associate with a certain album. I tend to listen to certain music over and over again while I'm reading...it's odd. Too lazy to change the record/CD or whatever...so I find that I'll listen to certain music now and be reminded of the story I was reading to it. Like, there is this mix Latin American CD I have with some Sol y Lluvia, Silvio Rodriguez and Sisa Pacari...I listened to it over and over while I read Aztec. That book really disturbed me, with the extreme descriptions of violence and abuse of children in particular, so I find certain songs now make me uneasy.

Every writer whose works I've ever read has touched my life to some degree, of course, but if I'm trying to limit myself to authors whose works really stick out, then my list would include (in no particular order) Shakespeare, Faulkner, Melville, Hugo, Tolkien, Susan Cooper, Saint-Exupery, C. S. Lewis, Fitzgerald, T. S. Eliot, Stoppard, Beckett, Anouilh, Milton, and Conrad. There are many more, as well, I'm sure, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind.

Uhm. I'd say that the italian writers I've found most inspiring are Cesare Pavese, Italo Calvino, Primo Levi and Elio Vittorini. Amongst the (numerous) foreign writers I love, I'd like to suggest anyone to read Ivo Andric.

Robert Pirsig had a big impact on me. I think it was really his influence that led me to look again at the question of quality, particularly in terms of character.

The real thing about Pirsig that got to me was that he, himself, could be very much seen as a flawed individual, and yet, the very things that made him vulnerable and weak were also what gave him insight and strength. I think I saw the weaknesses in him that I saw in myself - as a result, the strengths that I saw in him have grown on me too, somewhat.

I can't stand Ayn Rand. I think Orwell would've pointed at her and gone "Thank goodness you people didn't listen to her and proved me wrong."
Orwell hasn't been proved wrong yet. Of course, Ayn Rand hasn't been universally discredited yet, either.

That's funny to me, because I love Ender's Game so much, tolerated Speaker for the Dead more or less cheerily, and threw Xenocide across the room after about two pages.


Maybe you should give a try with the "Shadows", those are centered around Bean.

I love that Heinlein is literally a god to some nutjobs. I can't stand Ayn Rand. I think Orwell would've pointed at her and gone "Thank goodness you people didn't listen to her and proved me wrong."
You mean Jesus didn't write the bible? :eek:

Hey, it's not 'nutjob', it's 'sense-of-proportion-challenged' ;) As much as I like both of their works, and some(if not most)of the ideas therein, I disagree too fundamentally with their views of religion to join either of their 'cults.' I have a hard time believing anybody but God is God.

As for the rest, I was trying to find a way to put that that didn't cause a interesting thread to degenerate into an argument about the Bible.

Things that were unresolved get remembered. As they get resolved, you find it harder to remember them. At least that's how my therapist explained it, said one who does see a professional.

So you're saying that I resolved everything from 3-11?

Things that were unresolved get remembered. As they get resolved, you find it harder to remember them. At least that's how my therapist explained it, said one who does see a professional.

Yes, I think your therapist´s right.

Maybe you should give a try with the "Shadows", those are centered around Bean.

I read Ender's Shadow several years ago and enjoyed it a lot, although still not as much as the first book. I have Shadow fo the Hegemon on my shelf right now, it's been gathering dust for a couple years... maybe I'll give it a crack. :)

Yes, I think your therapist´s right.

Doesn't wash. I still remember my three-year-old memory, and that required no resolving.

I saw someone mention Antoine de Saint-Exupery. I like him.

Also, I have come into contact with Jaime Jaramillo, Papa Jaime, and I absolutely love his books. I also enjoy Laura Esquivel and Kahfka. (I might´ve written his name horribly wrong)

Doesn't wash. I still remember my three-year-old memory, and that required no resolving.

Maybe, as we were saying last night, nothing of importance happened to you during those years and that´s why you have no memories of them.

Fry, Pratchett, Wilde, Fitzgerald and Thucydides.

George Orwell and Orson Scott Card are the two writers who, in my opinion, shaped my worldview the most. Without them, I'd still be Christian.

Orwell destroyed all the faith I had in anything and inspired a month or so of Descartes-like thinking. I came out of it after reading Xenocide and creating a new model of reality, one that didn't depend on the existence of any sort of deity.

That is odd given that Card is a Christian, a Mormon to be specific.

One of the things I like about Card is that he is able to keep from proselytizing in his books - although his religious perspective shows through in the characters he creates.

Gaiman, Card, Rand, Shakespeare, Dickens, Orwell, Katie Galvin, James Beckstrom, Austin Beckstrom, Vonnegut, Greenwood, Dave King*, off the top of my head.

*: The lead singer and vocalist for Flogging Molly. I love his lyrics.

Kobo Abe, Woman in the Dunes and Kouga Yun, Earthian and Loveless have also influenced me greatly.

So you're saying that I resolved everything from 3-11?

A few years ago, a lack of memories would have been a big deal and somebody would have definitely tried to help you recover those memories. I admit that some Christian therapists were really bad about this (cringe). It kept some of us going in circles for quite a while. Now, the best therapists (and even a number of Christian ones, depending on who you talk to) say that if you need to remember it, you'll remember it. If you don't remember it, don't sweat it. I've noticed (and this hasn't been confirmed by anyone, it's just a personal observation) that people with jobs that require them to use a lot of their memory, for instance my pastor who is always hearing other people's stories and my mom who had a job that required her to keep a whole lot of facts in her head, start to be real forgetful about personal things. Maybe this is part of your problem

More on the subject

I spent years considering the various ramifications of L'Engles "Wrinkle in Time." C.S. Lewis's brutal honesty in "The Four Loves" and "A Grief Observed," have challenged and engaged me to make my Christianity a real one. Different portions of Orson Scott Card's Ender series have shed light on my way, because of the occasional honesty of some totally unrealistic characters. Orwell's "1984," the Ray Bradbury classic "Fahrenheit 451," and a little book called "A Brave New World Revisited" that explained themes in Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World," all these have had me watching the times like some Christians watch for signs of the Revelation of St. John. I won't bother talking about the influence the Bible has had on me. That just kinda goes without saying. I study it perpetually. It is my companion, my friend, my opponent, the thing that scares me to death and comforts me at different times. I can't mention books that have moved me and changed me without mentioning a couple of Christian books. I've read Philip Yancey's "Disappointment With God" probably 20 times. I read it everytime I said I was never walking through the doors of another church again. I read it everytime I got so unbearably mad . . . . and disgusted. The beginning empathized with me until it calmed me down. If you stop at the beginning of that book, you won't get it. The middle started to win me back to a God who might be alright. By 3/4 of the way through, Yancey would win my heart back. Philip Yancey's "Disappointment With God" is the book I recommend to everyone. Christians are dismayed. Embarassed that I should be suggesting that anyone could be disappointed in God. But, "Disappointment With God" is written for those who expected one thing when they heard the words "personal relationship with God," but found it to be like no other personal relationship in their experience. Anyway. Enough about that.
The second most influential book I've read is Larry Crabb's "Inside Out." It also is a Christian book. It is awesome.

I enjoyed Rand's "Atlas Shrugged," but I can't say that it moved me.

I've read Philip Yancey's "Disappointment With God" probably 20 times.
I read "The Jesus I Never Knew" a few years ago. Hardly radical, but he's got his head on straight and makes a pretty convincing case from within Christianity into stepping away from the "bible school" attitudes to theology. Worth a read, if only a quick one.

...Neil Gaiman...

Neil Gaiman would try and touch everyone's life, if he got the chance.
You know what I'm talking about.

Biggest influences have to be Kahlil Gibran and Robert Heinlein, but there's many others: Orson Scott Card, Isaac Asimov, Herman Hesse, Robert Pirsig, Rebecca Wells, Douglas Hofstadter, I could go on and on . . .