Ottessa Moshfegh
Ottessa Moshfegh
Ottessa Moshfegh is an American author and novelist. Moshfegh was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother was born in Croatia and her father was born in Iran...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
CountryUnited States of America
basically later life people puberty totally twenty until
Puberty extends into your twenties, for sure, and some people don't get over that until much later in life. I feel like I'm just starting to get over puberty - basically twenty years of insufferable, totally self-obsessed hell.
insane internet music people spend time totally work
It's insane that people have these Internet identities. It has very little to do with who we really are. As a writer, who I'm friends with, how I spend my time, what I look like, what I wear, what I eat, what kind of music I like - it's totally not important to the work.
born dad discovered family grew interested met mom music piano school sort united writer
I'm a first - I was the first person in my family born in the United States. My mom is from Croatia, and my dad is from Iran. They met at music school in Belgium. I grew up as a pianist. I was really interested in piano and sort of discovered that I was a writer when I was about 13 and started writing.
appeal belong care high literary looking sitting
I don't care about being a literary personality - that doesn't appeal to me, especially because the literary world doesn't appeal to me. I actually don't feel like I even belong in it. If this was high school, I would be sitting with the Goths, looking at everyone, being like, 'Whatever.'
stopping time
Once I finished 'Eileen,' I wanted to write more novels. I don't see myself stopping any time soon.
dad iranian
My dad is a gentle and brilliant Iranian violinist.
difficult experience found peace tend women
In my own experience, I've found that it's very difficult to make peace with women. We tend to be competitive and feel angry.
disgusting frustrated people shut women
I've found that people get particularly frustrated and shut down when women in fiction are disgusting or disordered.
known life meant
I've always known what I'm meant to do. The path of my life has been about discovering what I need to do to support myself as a writer.
behind closed creepy family happens interested
I've always been interested in family secrets and what happens behind closed doors. I find that fascinating and creepy - that's why I read: because I want to know other people's secrets.
reading writing thinking
Think about every time you've seen someone being objectified, abused, enslaved. We see it constantly on the TV, in magazines, on the Internet. We've become numb, so we do nothing. The accumulation of passivity might make reading about that exploitation uncomfortable. And sometimes when I'm writing, I think of it like this: "People seem to like garbage, so here is what garbage smells like..."
horror-genre people looks
If you look at the horror genre, that work is all about making people uncomfortable by stimulating our fear of death.
talking too-much talking-too-much
I don't like talking too much about my personal life, but it all goes into my work.
writing passion piano
I was really interested in piano and sort of discovered that I was a writer when I was about 13 and started writing. And it was my secret thing and my passion.