Altmann's Tongue Quotes

“I became particularly interested in breaking through the clichés that are most frequently applied to violence, masks that make it palatable to movie or television viewers. I wanted instead to depict murder, violence, and absence of human response in a way that allowed readers, if they were willing to keep their eyes open, to perceive violence not as symbolic, not as meaningful, but as a basic and irrecoverable act-using violence that overflows the boundaries of expectation, violence as a kind of deterritorialization that floods society and leaves it drowning underwater. Violence as insignificant in that it doesn't signify anything. Not violence as glitzily evil and chic, but as neutral and blank and indifferent.”
― Brian Evenson, Altmann's Tongue

“Talking about one's stories is a little too much like nailing a dog to the floor -- you can get it to stay put that way but it doesn't do much for the dog.”
― Brian Evenson, Altmann's Tongue: Stories and a Novella