Erasure

by Percival Everett

Anyone who speaks to members of his family knows that sharing a language does not mean you share the rules governing the use of that language.

All propositions are of equal value.

A metaphor cannot be paraphrased.

Kollwitz: I lost my son in the first war and I fear I will lose my grandson in this one. All because of a man who is afraid of his pee-pee. Klee: And other people’s pee-pees.

You’re bitter. You’re sounding like a Republican.

What is story anyway? Just a way to announce the last page.

A trout is very much like truth; it does what it wants, what it has to.

I was a victim of racism by virtue of my failing to acknowledge racial difference and by failing to have my art be defined as an exercise in racial self-expression.

One Man’s Graffiti is Another Man’s Writing on the Wall

I hated three things on people. I hated the heavy humor of public men. I hated overt and indulgent self-deprecation. And I hated conspicuous guilt.