Richard Holmes on talking about your past

Quote of the day: “Moreover, all of these people treated the fact of my being a writer as something perfectly honourable and rational; I no longer felt an aberration, as I so often did in England. On the contrary, they seemed to talk to me with a particular kind of confidence — about their work, about their families or their affairs, about their hopes for the future and, above all it seemed, about their childhood and adolescence. Indeed it was from them that I learned how much everyone needs to talk about their own past, the forces and experiences that shaped them; and how rarely this constant need is satisfied in the competitive, pressurised world, except in moments of emotional crisis.” (Richard Holmes’s Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer)

adolescence autobiography biography book childhood England English literature family Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer history identity national identity Richard Holmes the past writer