William T. Vollmann





William T. Vollmann

Author profile


born
July 28, 1959 in Los Angeles, California, The United States

gender
male

website

genre


About this author

William Tanner Vollmann is an American novelist, journalist, short story writer and essayist. He lives in Sacramento, California with his wife and daughter.



Average rating: 4.02 · 9,820 ratings · 1,201 reviews · 43 distinct works
Europe Central
3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 avg rating — 655 ratings — published 2003 — 18 editions
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The Rainbow Stories
3.96 of 5 stars 3.96 avg rating — 449 ratings7 editions
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Whores for Gloria
3.64 of 5 stars 3.64 avg rating — 410 ratings — published 1992 — 6 editions
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Poor People
3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 avg rating — 407 ratings — published 2007 — 8 editions
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The Ice-Shirt
3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 avg rating — 309 ratings7 editions
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The Atlas
3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 avg rating — 316 ratings — published 1996 — 5 editions
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You Bright and Risen Angels
4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 avg rating — 326 ratings6 editions
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Rising Up and Rising Down: ...
4.07 of 5 stars 4.07 avg rating — 356 ratings — published 2003 — 10 editions
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Riding Toward Everywhere
3.46 of 5 stars 3.46 avg rating — 322 ratings — published 2008 — 7 editions
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Butterfly Stories: A Novel
3.63 of 5 stars 3.63 avg rating — 280 ratings — published 1993 — 4 editions
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More books by William T. Vollmann…
The Ice-Shirt Fathers and Crows Argall The Rifles
Seven Dreams (4 books)
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4.010339734121122 of 5 stars 4.01 avg rating — 677 ratings

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“So he lent her books. After all, one of life's best pleasures is reading a book of perfect beauty; more pleasurable still is rereading that book; most pleasurable of all is lending it to the person one loves: Now she is reading or has just read the scene with the mirrors; she who is so lovely is drinking in that loveliness I've drunk.”
William T. Vollmann

“I just make the best book that I can and try to not worry about audience or if it will sell. The odds are against you, so why abuse your talent for the sake of a chimera? The only real pleasure for me in writing comes from pleasing myself. What readers think is interesting and illuminating (and it may even be correct), but that is nothing compared to the excitement of seeing a world develop. Besides, even though I like most individuals I meet, I have a pretty low opinion of people in general. So if I were to write for people in general, I would have to drastically lower my estimation of the intelligence of my reader. Rather than doing that, I write the way it seems the book has to appear. I don’t think that’s egotistic. There are often things I would like to include in my books—things about me personally and other materials—that I feel I have to leave out because they aren’t relevant to the book. I’m fairly ruthless along those lines, because I try to let nothing come in the way of what’s best for the book. If that means that the book won’t sell or that a publisher won’t buy it, then that’s my problem. I’ll suffer for that, but I won’t let the book suffer for it.”
William T. Vollmann

“If this advertisement be not sufficient, I can only protrude my wormlike tendrils of apology, craving forbearance on the grounds that a writer must write about what he knows, and since I know nothing about any subject it scarcely matters where I dabble.”
William T. Vollmann

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