The language has got to be fully alive - I can't bear dull, flaccid writing myself and I don't see why any reader should put up with it.

Quote by Helen Dunmore

Topics: Helen Dunmore Quotes

If we understand the past, we are more likely to recognise what is happening around...

If we understand the past, we are more likely to recognise what is happening around...

However, I began to submit poems to British magazines, and some were accepted. It was...

However, I began to submit poems to British magazines, and some were accepted. It was...

Poets go through a very tough apprenticeship in the use of words.

Poets go through a very tough apprenticeship in the use of words.

I could start with Mandelstam, who was a huge influence on my early writing.

I could start with Mandelstam, who was a huge influence on my early writing.

Writing poetry makes you intensely conscious of how words sound, both aloud and inside the...

Writing poetry makes you intensely conscious of how words sound, both aloud and inside the...

It is a violation which has obsessed the tyrants of the twentieth century. They do...

It is a violation which has obsessed the tyrants of the twentieth century. They do...

I was always influenced by language.

I was always influenced by language.

To try to expunge an individual's history is a terrible violation.

To try to expunge an individual's history is a terrible violation.

However, the difficulties and pleasures of the writing itself are similar for a novel with...

However, the difficulties and pleasures of the writing itself are similar for a novel with...

I would like people to come into my Dreamworld and then choose to stay.

I would like people to come into my Dreamworld and then choose to stay.

I can remember being in my pram: children stayed in their prams much longer then...

I can remember being in my pram: children stayed in their prams much longer then...

I didn't choose Russia but Russia chose me. I had been fascinated from an early...

I didn't choose Russia but Russia chose me. I had been fascinated from an early...

Fiction came quite a while later. I began with short stories and fiction for children.

Fiction came quite a while later. I began with short stories and fiction for children.

I enjoy research; in fact research is so engaging that it would be easy to...

I enjoy research; in fact research is so engaging that it would be easy to...

When you are young you don't always realise how full of doubts everybody is.

When you are young you don't always realise how full of doubts everybody is.

The poets whom I knew then were all men and all seemed dauntingly sure of...

The poets whom I knew then were all men and all seemed dauntingly sure of...

Those who try to obliterate the past are injuring the present.

Those who try to obliterate the past are injuring the present.

I hope that readers will tear through my books because they can't stop themselves -...

I hope that readers will tear through my books because they can't stop themselves -...

As individuals, we are shaped by story from the time of birth; we are formed...

As individuals, we are shaped by story from the time of birth; we are formed...

A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to...

A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to...