Maylis de Kerangal quotes

Maylis de Kerangal is a French author acclaimed for her innovative novels and captivating storytelling. Her works often explore themes of human emotion, identity, and the complexities of modern life. She has received numerous literary awards and continues to be a significant voice in contemporary literature. Here are 4 of her quotes:

So the novel is a race, and I can see the finish line from the first sentence: it's an intuition that magnetizes the entire text. The closer I get to the goal, the faster I want to go. There's even a sense of urgency, of hurrying, as though I was out of breath and had to, at all costs, finish before I ran out of strength. So I find that my endings are often too quick, not unfolded enough, not majestic enough...

Maylis de Kerangal

I began to think about its double nature: on the one hand you have an organ in your body and on the other you have a symbol of love. From that time I started to pursue the image of a heart crossing the night from one body to another. It is a simple narrative structure but it's open to a lot of things. I had the intuition that this book could give form to my intimate experience of death.

Maylis de Kerangal

I am the sort of writer who needs another form to tell me who I am and what has happened to me...I think all my novels are self-portraits, but there's no one character who resolves me, or catalyses me, or is me.

Maylis de Kerangal