November 15th, 2009 / 3:23 am
Snippets
Snippets
Blake Butler—
Nice interviews with Laura van den Berg on the event of her debut What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us live now @lunapark and @thefastertimes.
“I also don’t perceive the setting in my stories as being faithful renderings of the literal places; the Madagascar in the title story is not the real Madagascar, but my own fictional approximation. I haven’t been to a lot of the locales in the collection, though I used to live in Boston and have been to Paris a few times. This seems to disappoint people sometimes, probably because “autobiography” and “authenticity” are so often conflated—“But then how do you know X detail was real?” I’ve been asked. Fair enough, I suppose, but what does it mean for something to be “real” in a story? My feeling is that the only reality that matters is that story’s reality, so as long as the details, whether factual or invented, are things the reader can believe in, I have no qualms about making things up.”
I don’t know. I don’t write about places I’ve never been. It seems false, at least to me. I haven’t read van den Burg, and for all I know she might be glorious, but I personally can’t bring myself to write about a place that I don’t know. It always feels like black-face fiction. I don’t think that all details in a story have to be real, but if you’re using a place as a springboard for a ficiton, then why not just create a ficitonal place? Is it a fictional appeal to the traveling class? ‘You’ve been to a place and I’ve pretended a place, let’s compare notes?’ But, then again, I’m not the biggest fan of ‘place’ I don’t suppose. Though I don’t fall people who are. I mean, I hear fictional Madagascar is wonderful this time of year.
“I also don’t perceive the setting in my stories as being faithful renderings of the literal places; the Madagascar in the title story is not the real Madagascar, but my own fictional approximation. I haven’t been to a lot of the locales in the collection, though I used to live in Boston and have been to Paris a few times. This seems to disappoint people sometimes, probably because “autobiography” and “authenticity” are so often conflated—“But then how do you know X detail was real?” I’ve been asked. Fair enough, I suppose, but what does it mean for something to be “real” in a story? My feeling is that the only reality that matters is that story’s reality, so as long as the details, whether factual or invented, are things the reader can believe in, I have no qualms about making things up.”
I don’t know. I don’t write about places I’ve never been. It seems false, at least to me. I haven’t read van den Burg, and for all I know she might be glorious, but I personally can’t bring myself to write about a place that I don’t know. It always feels like black-face fiction. I don’t think that all details in a story have to be real, but if you’re using a place as a springboard for a ficiton, then why not just create a ficitonal place? Is it a fictional appeal to the traveling class? ‘You’ve been to a place and I’ve pretended a place, let’s compare notes?’ But, then again, I’m not the biggest fan of ‘place’ I don’t suppose. Though I don’t fall people who are. I mean, I hear fictional Madagascar is wonderful this time of year.
Think you have the link wrong on the FT interview:
http://thefastertimes.com/writersonwriting/2009/10/27/justify-every-sentence-michael-kimball-interviews-laura-van-den-berg/
Think you have the link wrong on the FT interview:
http://thefastertimes.com/writersonwriting/2009/10/27/justify-every-sentence-michael-kimball-interviews-laura-van-den-berg/
fixed, thanks lincoln
fixed, thanks lincoln
She’s also featured in the inaugural issue of The Nervous Breakdown 3.0, where there’s a story from her collection, and a “self-interview.” Full disclosure is that I’m co-editing the fiction section. But check it out anyway. Laura does it up: http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com
She’s also featured in the inaugural issue of The Nervous Breakdown 3.0, where there’s a story from her collection, and a “self-interview.” Full disclosure is that I’m co-editing the fiction section. But check it out anyway. Laura does it up: http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com
everyone should buy this book
everyone should buy this book
Thanks for posting, Blake!
Thanks for posting, Blake!