In an earlier post, I published a quote from Montaigne that I thought was “answered” by Yeats 300 years later, as if the two had been engaged in a conversation. Then I did the same thing, only with two writers who were contemporaries from neighboring countries and spoke the same language. The late Argentine writer, Julio Cortázar, seemed to be wondering aloud about a writer’s obligation to be a social or political activist, followed by Chilean writer and filmmaker, Alberto Fuguet’s “answer” that it was no longer the case for younger writers.
This time, I’ve once again chosen two writers who are contemporaries, both born in 1938, in different countries and who work in two different languages. Yet when they talk about the source of novels, that place where “long narratives” are born, they seem to be in agreement, even using language that is uncannily alike. First up is Peruvian writer, Mario Vargas Llosa [the translation to English is mine, though I have re-arranged the order of his answers for the sake of clarity] –
Al empezar una obra, tengo “una inquietud, un desasosiego respecto de un personaje o una situación.” Tomo “pequeñas” notas, esquelas y trayectorias “sin estar seguro” de qué voy a escribir. “Al inicio siempre voy a tientas. Con algunos libros me ha pasado que he trabajado uno o dos años sin tener claro cuál iba ser la historia final. […] Hasta que de pronto todo eso empieza a ponerse en marcha y empiezo a escribir, pero sin saber al principio a dónde voy.”
***
At the beginning of a work, I have “an uncertainty, a curiosity about a character or a situation.” I write “little” notes, sketches and story lines “without being sure” what I am going to write about. “At the beginning I always feel my way around. I have worked one or two years on some books without being clear about the final story. […] Until, suddenly, everything clicks together and I start to write, but without knowing at first where I am going.”
Here’s DeLillo –
“That’s how you write novels actually. You suddenly hit upon something and you realize this is the path you were meant to take. You’d be a fool if you didn’t follow it. Perhaps it’s like solving a difficult question in pure mathematics. There must be a moment when the solution is so simple and evident that you wonder why you hadn’t come upon it before. When you do come upon it, you know it in the deepest part of your being. It carries its own logic.”
I hope this serves as a lesson to all those procrastinators out there who think they must first have their novels outlined perfectly, like the final plans to an unborn city, before sitting down to write.
Sources: “Vargas Llosa dice que su obra de ficción parte de incertidumbre y desasosiego,” El nuevo Herald (Feb. 8, 2009), at 11-B, John Wilde, “The Day John Kennedy Died,” Melody Maker (Nov. 19, 1988), at 52-53 (quoting Don DeLillo on writing novels), http://www.perival.com/delillo/ddinterviews.html
kevin monroe | 24-May-09 at 1:00 am | Permalink
If I was a friend of Sean Penn’s I would recommend by
MVL, THE REAL LIFE OF ALEjANDRO MAYTA. This is a frightening account of how communist regimes have persecuted gays. In December Penn published an article in praise of Raul or Fidel or both and then in February when he won the Oscar for portraying the gay activist Harvey Milk he gave a stirring speech for gay rights. Many were quick to point out the contradiction.
Gonzalo Barr | 26-May-09 at 6:18 am | Permalink
Communist regimes, including the Cuban dictatorship, are intolerant of anyone and anything they perceive as the slightest challenge to their power. The same can be said of the Chávez regime, who have adopted the tactics of the Castros to quash free speech. The means include the use of violent mobs and takeovers. In fact, it was only this week that Chávez shut down the last remaining opposition TV station in the country.