A novelist is someone who remembers nothing yet records and manipulates different versions of what he doesn’t remember.
The novelist is less interested in the exact nature of that truth, more in the nature of the believers, the manner in which they hold their beliefs, and the texture of the ground between competing narratives.
Julian Barnes – Nothing to Be Frightened Of pp 240, 243
(Thanks PPDD for emailing the quotes.)
4 comments:
It's a great book - superbly written, classy, erudite, witty. After the terible books I've been forcing myself to try and finish the last month, it was a pleasure to read something so well-written and classy. Like driving in a BMW 7Series after going about in a Kancil...
- Poppadumdum
That's good to hear. I just just just started writing a novel, based loosely on my life, and already I can't tell what has actually happened and what has come out of my imagination.
Aren't all artists like that? I think they're all interested in manipulating the truth to very entertaining effect :)
It's what makes people draw or paint or talk or blog, it's because they're interested in other people and how they react to the circumstances that they have created with their art :)
I can accept the first quote, but the second should be relegated to the 'Pseuds' Corner' column of the satirical magazine Private Eye.
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