The element of terror is important

[breathedout]

The element of terror—anxiety—is important. Perhaps overconsciousness of details—by which an individual tries to fix his place, from which he tries to gain security and confidence, but without success. It is the element of security, that is forever missing; the meaning and importance of life that is missing.

—Patricia Highsmith, preparatory notes for The Tremor of Forgery as found in Joan Schenkar’s The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (Chapter 25: Les Girls, Part 9)