FastSaying

It is photography itself that creates the illusion of innocence. Its ironies of frozen narrative lend to its subjects an apparent unawareness that they will change or die. It is the future they are innocent of. Fifty years on we look at them with the godly knowledge of how they turne dout after all - who they married, the date of their death - with no thought for who will one day be holding photographs of us.

Ian McEwan

innocencemortalityphotography

Related Quotes

For children, childhood is timeless. It is always the present. Everything is in the present tense. Of course, they have memories. Of course, time shifts a little for them and Christmas comes round in the end. But they don’t feel it. Today is what they feel, and when they say ‘When I grow up,’ there is always an edge of disbelief—how could they ever be other than what they are?
— Ian McEwan
agechildhoodinnocence
Narrative Tension is primarily about witholding information.
— Ian McEwan
craft
I'm sorry to disappoint you, but my experience belongs to me, not the collective bloody unconscious.
— Ian McEwan
collective-unconsciousexperienceindividual
Not everyone knows what it is to have your father’s rival’s penis inches from your nose.
— Ian McEwan
fatherpenisrival
The cost of oblivious daydreaming was always this moment of return, the realignment with what had been before and now seemed a little worse.
— Ian McEwan
daydreamingdreamsfantasy