"I don't much believe in the idea of characters. I write with words, that is all. Whether those words are put in the mouth of this or that character does not matter to me"
- Guillermo Cabrera Infante
About this Quote
In this quote, Guillermo Cabrera Infante is revealing his view on the concept of personalities in creating. He is mentioning that he does not place much relevance on the idea of creating distinct as well as intricate personalities in his writing. Rather, he focuses on using words to communicate his message and also tell his tale.
Infante believes that it is the words themselves that are one of the most vital component of composing, rather than the characters that talk them. He suggests that the individualities as well as identifications of the characters are second to words they claim.
This point of view on creating may show Infante's desire to emphasize the power of language fit our understandings and experiences. It additionally suggests that he values the craft of writing more than the characters as well as emotions of its fictional personalities.
"Homer's whole language, the language in which he lived, the language that he breathed, because he never saw it, or certainly those who formed his tradition never saw it, in characters on the pages. It was all on the tongue and in the ear"
"The Little Friend is a long book. It's also completely different from my first novel: different landscape, different characters, different use of language and diction, different approach to story"
"So if you want to have a great video game-based movie you have to keep the mood of the game, use the normal character setup - but you have to flesh out the story and provide more background for the characters"
"The way I write is that I'll actually have a conversation out loud with myself. In a weird way, I just kind of get schizophrenic and play two characters"
"From beginning to end it's about keeping the energy and the intensity of the story and not doing too much and not doing too little, but just enough so people stay interested and stay involved in the characters"
