' "What I have received as my inheritance," he said, "is the hope for a book. Poisoned legacy! with each of my works, a little more of this hope fades away." ' --Edmond Jabès, The Book of Shares (1987) tr Rosemarie Waldrop

There is something poetic about the planned but unwritten novel that a written one lacks. I must beware of loving too much this aura.
  The discovery of self-modulation, of varying one's style, is the basis for most contemporary art careers. Sometimes it is most baseless; sometimes truly independent of scrutiny. I have almost loved this more than the medium itself. It has lured me from truth when truth was unavailing. I have considered it the mystery of myself. --Though it is not even the central mystery of art.

"Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the deposed president of Haiti, is represented with his attribute, a rooster, and the name of his party written in sequins. He may be finished as president, but he is well on his way to becoming a voodoo spirit figure." --Regina Hackett in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer 2-15-92

"I am the son of the future but she shows me only her mourning veil" --W S Merwin

...the intensity i feel at being rejected is a direct measure of my degree of egotism. [Wherefore it is a good thing to happen once in awhile?]

It was parental supervision that made Americans want to live anonymously. To compensate, they devise lifestyles.