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The Novelist’s Lexicon: Writers on the Words That Define Their Work
At the renowned, international literary conference hosted by Villa Gillet and Le Monde , organizers asked more than seventy prominent authors to choose a word that opens a door to their work. Their musings, collected here for the first time, offer an extraordinary portrait of writing and reading from the novelist's perspective. Organized alphabetically by keyword, the anthology is filled with intriguing, amusing, and often surprising insight, essential to an intimate understanding of literature.
Through these personal "passwords," authors articulate the function of language, character, plot, and structure. Throughout the process, they reveal their relationship to the elements of story. Jonathan Lethem discusses the necessity of "furniture" in the novel. A. S. Byatt describes the power of the narrative web. Colum McCann details the benefits of anonymity. Daniel Mendelsohn expounds on the unknowable, or what the author should or should not impart to the reader. Etgar Keret explains the importance of balagan , a Hebrew word meaning "total chaos," and Annie Proulx clarifies terroir , which embodies the complexities of time, place, geography, weather, and climate. Other participants include Rick Moody on adumbrated, Upamanyu Chatterjee on the bildungsroman, Enrique Vila-Matas on discipline, Adam Thirwell on hedonism, Nuruddin Farah on identities, Andre Brink on the heretic, and Péter Esterhazy on the power and potential of words, words, words.
Through these personal "passwords," authors articulate the function of language, character, plot, and structure. Throughout the process, they reveal their relationship to the elements of story. Jonathan Lethem discusses the necessity of "furniture" in the novel. A. S. Byatt describes the power of the narrative web. Colum McCann details the benefits of anonymity. Daniel Mendelsohn expounds on the unknowable, or what the author should or should not impart to the reader. Etgar Keret explains the importance of balagan , a Hebrew word meaning "total chaos," and Annie Proulx clarifies terroir , which embodies the complexities of time, place, geography, weather, and climate. Other participants include Rick Moody on adumbrated, Upamanyu Chatterjee on the bildungsroman, Enrique Vila-Matas on discipline, Adam Thirwell on hedonism, Nuruddin Farah on identities, Andre Brink on the heretic, and Péter Esterhazy on the power and potential of words, words, words.
168 pages, Hardcover
First published October 23, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 19, 2016
Apparently the International Forum on the Novel is organised by the Villa Gillet in Lyons (which operates as a centre for the study and promotion of contemporary art and thought) in collaboration with the French newspaper Le Monde. At one of these Forums, a number of international prominent authors were asked to choose a word that opens a door to their work together with a short exposition on that word. The responses were collected, translated as required by Columbia University Press, arranged alphabetically, and printed by CUP. The result is this strange little book.
Seventy-seven authors contributed to this challenge/experiment. At 123 pages of actual text, that averages out to about one and a half pages per author. The entries vary considerably (understandably) ranging from simple exposition, through more creative and poetic expositions, to perhaps the pretentious and imponderable… The vast majority of these writers were (and probably will remain) unknown to me — if the intention was to “open a door” to each author’s work then, to be perfectly honest, I was rarely tempted to go through those doors… So overall, for me, the book remained mysterious and impenetrable.
When you think about it, the idea that a novelist’s whole work can be subsumed into a single word, albeit chosen by the author, is a bit too simplistic, to my mind. To be fair, not all contributors limited themselves just to one word: some used phrases; some parts of words; some made up a word; etc. Their musings about their chosen “word”, then, must be limited to their understanding of what they are meaning at the time of writing — and here is where, perhaps, the work is “interesting”: in that the words written about their words could be argued to provide a kind of access to their psychological state as they wrote. Whether this is useful or not is a moot point, as far as I am concerned: it would be impossible to tell whether today (some years down the track) they would choose the same word, or even the same comments, as a “door” to their work. Surely novelists will be subject to changes of heart and opinion throughout their lives, and those changes will be reflected in their work?
So I am in a bit of a quandary about this book. On the one hand, I am sure that there will be those who find particular authors and their expositions charming, or delightful, or even insightful; but equally there will be those who mutter “so what?” My rating for this work is thus intended to reflect my dilemma. One “good” aspect: the entries are so short, and the book so “small”, that it would be easy to take on a bus or train journey, for dipping into every now and then…
Perhaps my hesitation is tied in with my concern as to just what useful information can be gained from an author’s opinion about him/herself at a particular time in their life, and whether this could or could not contribute to some form of “global” approach to the novel. Personally, I would hope not: the novel is too individualistic and open-ended a concept to be constrained by just one “type” of novel, global or not. If nothing else, here we have 77 different types of outlooks described by 77 authors. I would expect that if there had been 1077 authors we would still get 1077 different types of outlooks described. So if there is anything to be taken from all this, it is that, all things being considered, the novel will always have a long way to go before it even comes near to exhausting its potential. For that, perhaps, we should be thankful.
Seventy-seven authors contributed to this challenge/experiment. At 123 pages of actual text, that averages out to about one and a half pages per author. The entries vary considerably (understandably) ranging from simple exposition, through more creative and poetic expositions, to perhaps the pretentious and imponderable… The vast majority of these writers were (and probably will remain) unknown to me — if the intention was to “open a door” to each author’s work then, to be perfectly honest, I was rarely tempted to go through those doors… So overall, for me, the book remained mysterious and impenetrable.
When you think about it, the idea that a novelist’s whole work can be subsumed into a single word, albeit chosen by the author, is a bit too simplistic, to my mind. To be fair, not all contributors limited themselves just to one word: some used phrases; some parts of words; some made up a word; etc. Their musings about their chosen “word”, then, must be limited to their understanding of what they are meaning at the time of writing — and here is where, perhaps, the work is “interesting”: in that the words written about their words could be argued to provide a kind of access to their psychological state as they wrote. Whether this is useful or not is a moot point, as far as I am concerned: it would be impossible to tell whether today (some years down the track) they would choose the same word, or even the same comments, as a “door” to their work. Surely novelists will be subject to changes of heart and opinion throughout their lives, and those changes will be reflected in their work?
So I am in a bit of a quandary about this book. On the one hand, I am sure that there will be those who find particular authors and their expositions charming, or delightful, or even insightful; but equally there will be those who mutter “so what?” My rating for this work is thus intended to reflect my dilemma. One “good” aspect: the entries are so short, and the book so “small”, that it would be easy to take on a bus or train journey, for dipping into every now and then…
Perhaps my hesitation is tied in with my concern as to just what useful information can be gained from an author’s opinion about him/herself at a particular time in their life, and whether this could or could not contribute to some form of “global” approach to the novel. Personally, I would hope not: the novel is too individualistic and open-ended a concept to be constrained by just one “type” of novel, global or not. If nothing else, here we have 77 different types of outlooks described by 77 authors. I would expect that if there had been 1077 authors we would still get 1077 different types of outlooks described. So if there is anything to be taken from all this, it is that, all things being considered, the novel will always have a long way to go before it even comes near to exhausting its potential. For that, perhaps, we should be thankful.
March 28, 2014
The essence of this slim volume is in the subtitle: Writers on the words that define their works. It seems that I am in the minority opinion. I can understand why some of the essays might seem indulgent and pretentious, but I tried to give the writers the benefit of the doubt. Onward then...
Le Monde, the French newspaper, sponsored an International Forum on the Novel in which 70+ writers were asked to write short essays on the word that defined their work. Think of it as some of the world’s best writers were put on the spot to write flash fiction. None of these essays exceed three pages. It would seem like an invitation to egotism, but it isn’t. The overt beauty of the collection is the insight into the creative process and self-perception. The joy, however, is encountering many authors not known in the English-speaking world. The anthology is an invaluable introduction to world literature since the writers gathered here are from around the world: Albanian, American (in the minority here), Arabic, British, Dutch, French, German, Italian, and Vietnamese.
When these writers write about writing they are using words in their language that are merely translated into English, but they endeavor to provide the reader with a significant snapshot to all the nuances and associations of the chosen word in their mind and from their culture. One can’t help but appreciate translators more and yet know that the original text is but an approximation, far richer in tone, texture, and vision. These essays are brief, readable on the train, and run the range from the humorous to the philosophical, political and poetic. Rikki Ducornet, for example, writes on cunnilingus. Andre Brink chose ‘heretic’ and relates it to his choice to defy apartheid. Hélène Cixous questions deception and knowledge with ‘aletherature.’ Readers will come to understand all the permutations of the French word échappé from Marie Desplechine and Elisabetta Rasy explains that ‘ombra’ in Italian means more than the English ‘shadow.’
My favorite essay is ‘Silence’ from David Albahari. A brief quote: “Nobody knows what love really is, and yet we all keep falling in love, hoping that we will realize what true love is. In the same way we keep trying to go beyond words, to see the other side of language, hoping that then, and only then, will we be able to express everything.”
Le Monde, the French newspaper, sponsored an International Forum on the Novel in which 70+ writers were asked to write short essays on the word that defined their work. Think of it as some of the world’s best writers were put on the spot to write flash fiction. None of these essays exceed three pages. It would seem like an invitation to egotism, but it isn’t. The overt beauty of the collection is the insight into the creative process and self-perception. The joy, however, is encountering many authors not known in the English-speaking world. The anthology is an invaluable introduction to world literature since the writers gathered here are from around the world: Albanian, American (in the minority here), Arabic, British, Dutch, French, German, Italian, and Vietnamese.
When these writers write about writing they are using words in their language that are merely translated into English, but they endeavor to provide the reader with a significant snapshot to all the nuances and associations of the chosen word in their mind and from their culture. One can’t help but appreciate translators more and yet know that the original text is but an approximation, far richer in tone, texture, and vision. These essays are brief, readable on the train, and run the range from the humorous to the philosophical, political and poetic. Rikki Ducornet, for example, writes on cunnilingus. Andre Brink chose ‘heretic’ and relates it to his choice to defy apartheid. Hélène Cixous questions deception and knowledge with ‘aletherature.’ Readers will come to understand all the permutations of the French word échappé from Marie Desplechine and Elisabetta Rasy explains that ‘ombra’ in Italian means more than the English ‘shadow.’
My favorite essay is ‘Silence’ from David Albahari. A brief quote: “Nobody knows what love really is, and yet we all keep falling in love, hoping that we will realize what true love is. In the same way we keep trying to go beyond words, to see the other side of language, hoping that then, and only then, will we be able to express everything.”
February 1, 2014
It took me forever to read this book, not because it was long, but because so many of the early entries are written in a manner that seems both vague and pompous. The idea of this book, asking writers to find the word that best defines or encapsulates their work was a neat idea, but, along with the tone and near-incomprehensible rambling of of the overly intellectual, many of the descriptions written by the authors seemed to have no connection with the word they chose. Maybe it's a translation problem or perhaps I'm just not in the same headspace. Thus, I meandered and did not read consistently while other books seized my attention.
However, there were four entries that did catch my attention, both their clarity, description, and ability to capture how I also feel about writing: "Creature" by Alissa York, "Pathos" by Alberto Garlini, "The Unreal" by Arthur Japin, and "Zorby" by James Flint. Thus, I am glad to have read this book to gain those words...but I wouldn't read it more than once.
However, there were four entries that did catch my attention, both their clarity, description, and ability to capture how I also feel about writing: "Creature" by Alissa York, "Pathos" by Alberto Garlini, "The Unreal" by Arthur Japin, and "Zorby" by James Flint. Thus, I am glad to have read this book to gain those words...but I wouldn't read it more than once.
September 18, 2011
Nice little book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews