Great writers leave space
21st November 2017 | for Creatives | reading, books, sci-fi, film, fantasy, writing, writer-reader relationship, value the art, Dan Simmons, Saul Williams |
"What I have enjoyed about science fiction from the time I dove in was how it opened my natural space. If I were reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons or whatever, as I'm walking down the street, I'm thinking of the shit that I just read and the world feels a little larger. I'd be thinking that there's more layers, parallel universes and so forth. It has enhanced my view of possibilities. It's kind of like film in a way. Great writers leave space, and that gap in between is your understanding."
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Literature may enable empathy, but it often doesn't.
"We need to be careful about the argument that literature always enables empathy. There are counter-examples: Josef Goebbels, that Nazi kingpin, wrote a novel. Knut Hamsun was a great novelist and the most unpleasant major writer of the 20th center. Louis-Ferdinand Céline, a great writer, was a crazy anti-Semite. Ezra Pound, another great writer, had, let us say, limited resources of empathy. I could go on with this rogue's gallery. Literature may enable empathy, but it often doesn't. It can't turn monsters, even monsters of genius, into good people. That's not the business of literature."
the best audience in the world
"The science fiction and fantasy audience ... is the best audience in the world to write for. They're open-minded and intelligent. They want to think as well as feel, understand as well as dream. Above all, they want to be led into places that no one has ever visited before. It's a privilege to tell stories to these readers, and an honor when they applaud the tales you tell."