Happy birthday, Jack Kerouac!
“Write in recollection and amazement for yourself.”
“Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night?”
“I feel guilty for being a member of the human race.”
“I’m writing this book because we’re all going to die.”
“All of life is a foreign country.”
“I want to work in revelations, not just spin silly tales for money. I want to fish as deep down as possible into my own subconscious in the belief that once that far down, everyone will understand because they are the same that far down.”
“Accept loss forever.”
“Believe in the holy contour of life.”
“Be in love with your life every detail of it.”
“I am going to marry my novels and have little short stories for children.”
“A sociable smile is nothing but teeth.”
John Madera's fiction may be found in Conjunctions, Opium Magazine, The &Now Awards 2: The Best Innovative Writing, and many other journals. His criticism may be found in American Book Review, Bookforum, The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Rain Taxi: Review of Books, The Believer, The Brooklyn Rail, and many other venues. Recipient of an M.F.A. in Literary Arts from Brown University, John Madera lives in New York City, where he runs Rhizomatic and manages and edits Big Other.