Boris Pasternak Interviewed by Olga Carlisle, in The Paris Review (Summer–Fall 1960) https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4679/the-art-of-fiction-no-25-boris-pasternak
“
The greatness of a writer has nothing to do with subject matter itself, only with how much the subject matter touches the author. It is the density of style which counts. Through Hemingway's style you feel matter, iron, wood. I admire Hemingway but I prefer what I know of Faulkner. Light in August is a marvelous book.
— Boris Pasternak on William Faulkner
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The greatness of a writer has nothing to do with subject matter itself, only with how much the subject matter touches the author. It is the density of style which counts. Through Hemingway's style you feel matter, iron, wood. I admire Hemingway but I prefer what I know of Faulkner. Light in August is a marvelous book." in the context of "Boris Pasternak Interviewed by Olga Carlisle, in The Paris Review (Summer–Fall 1960) https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4679/the-art-of-fiction-no-25-boris-pasternak" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "William Faulkner" (Quotes about William Faulkner)
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Tags
About Boris Pasternak
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak Борис Леонидович Пастернак (10 February 1890 – 30 May 1960) was a Russian poet and writer famous for his 1957 novel Doctor Zhivago. His first book of poems, My Sister, Life (1917), is one of the most influential collections ever published in the Russian language. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958, an event which enraged the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which forced him to decline the prize, though his descendants were later to accept it in his name in 1988.
About Boris Pasternak
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak Борис Леонидович Пастернак (10 February 1890 – 30 May 1960) was a Russian poet and writer famous for his 1957 novel Doctor Zhivago. His first book of poems, My Sister, Life (1917), is one of the most influential collections ever published in the Russian language. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958, an event which enraged the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which forced him to decline the prize, though his descendants were later to accept it in his name in 1988.
View all quotes →