[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$fzYwd_J5IUz0_PMg0XOZwPcQ7hLcCPsLHGwOWVup0fj0":3,"$f5MEgAIY_mF6IVSw7yXhY5Jg16kTXepOK4OK7xpcWvJI":12},{"author":4,"tags":11},{"author_id":5,"author_name":6,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"bio":9,"short_bio":9,"slug":10,"image_url":9},66182,"Donald Ray Pollock","D",56,null,"donald-ray-pollock",[],{"quotes":13,"pagination":77},[14,22,28,35,41,47,53,59,65,71],{"id":15,"quote_text":16,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":19,"source":20,"quote_tag":21,"commentary":9},2985977,"It made no sense, the way Americans sometimes went bananas over certain people for absolutely no reason, as if they were just drawing names out of a hat.",6,false,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":23,"quote_text":24,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":25,"source":26,"quote_tag":27,"commentary":9},2985974,"It always gives me a comfort, watching the TV late at night, thinking about all the other people around Ohio watching the same old movie, maybe even thinking the same old thoughts. I picture them curled up on their couches in their living rooms, and all the lonely little sounds of the night drifting in through their window screens.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":29,"quote_text":30,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":31,"source":32,"quote_tag":33,"commentary":34},2985965,"I don’t think my book is any more shocking than if I went out right now and brought back your local newspaper and found a story that happened around here yesterday or the day before that’s just as shocking as anything in my book.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],"**The Backstory**\n\nThis quote is likely from an interview or a Q&A session with Donald Ray Pollock, possibly during the promotion of his debut novel \"The Devil All the Time\" (2011). At that time, Pollock was gaining recognition for his gritty and unflinching portrayal of small-town America, which often explores themes of violence, crime, and the darker aspects of human nature. As a writer emerging from the Ohio State University's Creative Writing Program, Pollock's work was already generating buzz for its raw, unvarnished style.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\n\nWhat lies beneath this seemingly innocuous statement is an acknowledgment that our perceptions of what's shocking or disturbing are often relative and context-dependent. By equating his fictional content with real-world news, Pollock reveals a skepticism about the notion that art can ever truly shock us; instead, he suggests that our reactions to it are often influenced by familiarity and proximity.\n\n**How to Use This**\n\nTo apply this mindset today, consider adopting an attitude of \"contextualizing the familiar.\" When confronted with disturbing or provocative content in your personal or professional life, take a step back to assess whether your reaction is genuinely based on the material itself or if it's being amplified by your existing biases and experiences. By doing so, you may find that your reactions become more nuanced and less driven by emotional reactivity.",{"id":36,"quote_text":37,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":38,"source":39,"quote_tag":40,"commentary":9},2985949,"The Oxys filled holes in me I hadn’t realized were empty. It was, at least for those first few months, a wonderful way to be disabled. I felt blessed.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":42,"quote_text":43,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":44,"source":45,"quote_tag":46,"commentary":9},2985929,"I remember a class I taught at Ohio State where I assigned a Mary Gaitskill story, which really wasn’t that bad, and I had this one girl refuse to read it. But better that reaction than no reaction at all.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":48,"quote_text":49,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":50,"source":51,"quote_tag":52,"commentary":9},2985915,"When I first started out, I was trying to write stories about nurses and lawyers and a lot of people I didn’t know anything about, and they just weren’t working.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":54,"quote_text":55,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":56,"source":57,"quote_tag":58,"commentary":9},2985904,"The way I saw the characters these things just happened naturally. At the same time – and I know it’s probably not apparent when you read the book – but I really tried to hold back because I didn’t want it to become a cartoon.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":60,"quote_text":61,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":62,"source":63,"quote_tag":64,"commentary":9},2985871,"I took a correspondence course with a guy at Ohio University. He gave me ten exercises, and one of them resulted in the story “Bactine.” It pleased me a lot more than anything else I’d ever done, so I kept messing around and by the time I got to Ohio State I’d written maybe eight stories.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":66,"quote_text":67,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":68,"source":69,"quote_tag":70,"commentary":9},2985863,"Michael Koryta is an amazingly talented writer, and I rank The Prophet as one of the sharpest and superbly plotted crime novels I’ve read in my life.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":72,"quote_text":73,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":74,"source":75,"quote_tag":76,"commentary":9},2985829,"A lot of people get the wrong impression, think there’s something romantic or tragic about hitting bottom.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"currentPage":78,"totalPages":17,"totalItems":8,"itemsPerPage":79},1,10]