"I have worked really hard to defy categorization, to break down a taxonomy whenever it comes my way"
About this Quote
To “defy categorization” is to pick a fight with the filing cabinet: the tidy shelves of genre, brand, and identity that publishing, criticism, and readers use to decide what something is worth. Rick Moody’s line works because it treats that fight as labor. Not a vibe, not a pose, but “worked really hard” - a pointed acknowledgement that messiness takes craft. The subtext is that categories aren’t neutral descriptions; they’re gatekeeping technologies. They shape which books get reviewed, where they’re stocked, who’s invited to the festival, what kind of writer you’re allowed to be.
The phrase “break down a taxonomy” sharpens the target. Taxonomy sounds scientific, objective, almost benevolent, like classification is just knowledge. Moody flips it into something imposed: “whenever it comes my way.” Categorization becomes an external force, arriving like bureaucracy or marketing copy, and the writer’s job is resistance. There’s also an ironic self-awareness here: naming “taxonomy” is already to show you know the system intimately. You can’t meaningfully subvert labels unless you understand how they’re made.
Contextually, this tracks with a late-20th/early-21st-century literary landscape obsessed with hybridity but still run on categories: postmodernism marketed as a lane, “voicey” realism as another, autofiction as a current obsession. Moody’s intent is to keep movement possible. The line is as much a creative credo as a critique of cultural consumption: we want artists legible, quick to summarize. He’s arguing for the harder pleasure - art that resists the elevator pitch.
The phrase “break down a taxonomy” sharpens the target. Taxonomy sounds scientific, objective, almost benevolent, like classification is just knowledge. Moody flips it into something imposed: “whenever it comes my way.” Categorization becomes an external force, arriving like bureaucracy or marketing copy, and the writer’s job is resistance. There’s also an ironic self-awareness here: naming “taxonomy” is already to show you know the system intimately. You can’t meaningfully subvert labels unless you understand how they’re made.
Contextually, this tracks with a late-20th/early-21st-century literary landscape obsessed with hybridity but still run on categories: postmodernism marketed as a lane, “voicey” realism as another, autofiction as a current obsession. Moody’s intent is to keep movement possible. The line is as much a creative credo as a critique of cultural consumption: we want artists legible, quick to summarize. He’s arguing for the harder pleasure - art that resists the elevator pitch.
Quote Details
| Topic | Deep |
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