Francisco Goldman

Author

Francisco Goldman is a notable Guatemalan-American author recognized for his poignant explorations of love and identity in works like 'The Long Night of White Chickens.'

Thinking Writing People Reality Country Art

Born: January 1, 1954
Quotes: 25
Rank: #2312

About Francisco Goldman

Francisco Goldman — Life and Legacy

Francisco Goldman is a prominent Guatemalan-American novelist and essayist whose works delve into themes of love, identity, and the immigrant experience. His novel 'The Long Night of White Chickens' intricately weaves personal and cultural narratives, showcasing his unique perspective on the complexities of belonging. Goldman's writing often reflects a deep psychological insight into human emotions, particularly love. He once stated, 'Love is a kind of madness,' which encapsulates the tumultuous nature of romantic relationships and the irrationality that often accompanies them. This quote reveals how Goldman views love not merely as a feeling but as a profound force that can lead to both joy and turmoil, challenging conventional notions of stability in relationships. In addition to love, Goldman’s exploration of identity is a significant aspect of his work. He articulates the immigrant experience with a keen awareness of the tensions between cultural heritage and personal identity. His narratives often highlight the struggles of navigating multiple identities, making his insights particularly relevant in today's multicultural society. Goldman's quotes and ideas resonate with readers, offering a lens through which to understand the emotional landscape of love and the complexities of identity.

Quote collection

Francisco Goldman quotes (page 1 of 2)

25 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.

Francisco Goldman Author

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"I'm a little skeptical of so-called narco fiction, I have to say, though some writers I admire may have written some narco fiction. You feel the dread and the atmosphere in Yuri Herrera's extraordinary novels, but you'd never say that what he writes is narco fiction. The same goes for Martin Solares's novels, inspired by the nightmare city of Tampico, where he's from. Valeria Luiselli, Álvaro Enrigue, I know that they're deeply affected by what goes on in Mexico, but their wonderful writing points in another direction, though not necessarily always and only."

Writing Atmosphere Nightmare

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"Maybe Pope Francis will say something on his visit to the US, maybe he'll rebuke Donald Trump and anti-immigrant racism and demagoguery beautifully, in a way that illuminates hearts and makes people begin to turn away. That would be miracle enough for me."

Heart Racism People

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"Great fiction has been written out of the very darkest circumstances of our narco violence, and nothing written in either fiction or nonfiction has penetrated that darkness so memorably - you can even say beautifully, a relentless riveting forensic dark beauty that some readers in fact find themselves unable to endure - as Roberto Bolaño's 2666. Especially in "The Part about the Crimes." But here's the thing: nobody would call 2666 a "narco novel.""

Dark Violence Crime

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"I don't ever think about the utility of fiction. I don't believe in it or certainly don't require anybody to consider it. A novel or short story might be useful to a reader in all kinds of ways, many of which no writer would ever foresee, which is a good thing."

Believe Thinking Kind

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"I've written one book-length piece of journalism. The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed Bishop Gerardi? That book had an impact. Eight years after it was published it's still having an impact in Guatemala. I remember when I wrote it, a surprising number of people said things to me like, "That is such an amazing story; why didn't you turn it into a novel?""

Art Book People

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"I don't impose political responsibilities on my fiction. The last thing I would ever want to do, for example, is write a novel that would appear to want to tell people what to think about the immigration debate, and I would never write a novel whose sole ambition was to give a "positive" view of immigrants. I'm for open borders, by the way - down with the nation state!"

Writing Ambition Responsibility

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"The Peña Nieto government is not going to investigate itself; there's no true autonomy in the investigative and justice branches of the government in Mexico. The recent Mexican crimes and scandals, is profoundly structural, and you'd have to change the way Mexico is run, create a truly independent special prosecutor's office, to even have a chance to get close to achieving justice. People, including the families and many others throughout Mexican society, aren't going to give up in fighting for just that kind of change."

Running Giving Up Independent

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"I'm not a Mexican writer, but I think everything that happens in Mexico affects the Mexican writers I know, in their sense of being human and of being Mexican, even if they don't in any explicit way address these issues in their writing."

Writing Thinking Mexican

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"If I were the Mexican-American father of a young child who was having trouble sleeping because of Donald Trump, or who was being bullied in school because of Trump, or who was becoming ashamed of her own background because of Trump, and Trump somehow slipped away from his security and was walking down a corridor alone to use the men's room at the restaurant where I worked - if I had that chance to confront him, what would I do? Of course if a Mexican or Latino harmed Trump, it would only make things worse. Let John McCain do it. He's a soldier."

Children Father School

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"There is a culture of corruption in many parts of the Mexican media, of course. It seems that there are fewer and fewer media outlets that permit authentic free expressions. But Mexico also has extraordinary journalists who, despite the dangers they face, have also been leading the way in this battle, who've really played a role in keeping the cause of justice alive in the Ayotzinapa case. And no matter what, they'll keep doing that."

Justice Mexican Battle

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"I'm specifically referring to this certain feeling of sadness, fear, and helplessness that descended on me at the Mexico City protest a day or two after the Narvarte murders. Many of us have grown familiar with that feeling. Every few weeks or so it seems we're hit with some new crime or some new corruption scandal that isn't quite the same as a massacre, but that spawns a feeling of futility and despair in its own way."

Sadness Feelings Despair

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"The Democrats are hardly agents of change, or even remotely interesting talkers or reality observers. The workings of actual power in the US is so remote from the ordinary person, who, it seems, can only be victimized by it, but is powerless to change anything."

Reality Interesting Democrat

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"I'm not against anything that anybody might want to try to pull off in fiction. Fiction writing has to, at least, always represent a possibility of absolute freedom."

Writing Trying Possibility

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"Mexico just needs more journalists, and especially more good places to publish and exhibit. There are all kinds of censorship practiced in Mexico, not just violent repression. Perhaps the biggest threat to good journalism here is the massive power of the country's media monoliths - Televisa and TV Azteca - who have 80% of the market. They endlessly saturate the country with propaganda and inanity."

Country Journalism Censorship

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"Donald Trump is seriously dark and disturbing. You can't just dismiss it as one more example of American pop culture grotesque."

Dark Culture Pop Culture

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"Donald Trump is an especially depressing phenomena because he is so debased and debasing and millions and millions of people want him to be president. We're seeing how at least whole swathes of white America are becoming your worst nightmare of eternal Zombie High School. Something like a perfect mix of Groundhog Day and The Moronic Inferno. How can it be that a guy who looks like a bloated cadaver pulled from the Gowanus canal, with some rouge on his cheeks and a sticky Something About Mary wig, is actually applauded by his followers for making fun of how other people look?"

Depressing Fun School

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"I think everything you are, everything that engages you, eventually comes to bear on the novel you write. I think the creative energy in novel writing, obviously, comes from tension. From trying to fuse. From trying to make coherent disparate things that might not at all seem to belong together within a narrative."

Writing Thinking Creative

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"What I see of the US Presidential elections from down here makes me want to disengage from that particular reality and just hole up and read. It's true. I think if I were living in the US, I would just turn my television and radio off for a year right now, and just read."

Reality Thinking Presidential

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"Narco fiction novels have a reputation, at least here in Mexico among some of the writers I know, of being somewhat rushed productions, usually written in one way or another like crime thrillers, with something cheesily exploitative about them. It feels exploitive - taking this horrible and ongoing tragedy and trying to turn it into something entertaining. Or trying to turn it into something that might earn the writer a reputation of the sort that many writers believe they aspire to. Or earn them money."

Believe Tragedy Trying

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Francisco Goldman Author

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"The writing that most interests me isn't about narcos or sicarios or police or whatever. It's about the victims and the survivors, and about the suffering and trauma that so many in Mexico and Central America endure, and that is all around us whether we notice it or not."

Writing Police Suffering

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