In your home, your Writing Study is just below us, the floor below. Just tell me, does it matter to you when you are writing what is going on in the world outside Yourfront Door . Does it affect your writing . Well, it depends on what you mean. If theres a fire engine screeching in front of my door, it will interrupt my concentration, and i might go out and see whats going on. But if theres a distant war going on in another place and i know about it, im not going to read about it while im doing my work for the day. But i certainly will inform myself about it later. You talk of distant wars. Im thinking of wars much closer to home. You write a lot about your take on american politics. Youve talked about your feelings through the course of four years of donald trump. Youve talked about a country at war with itself. So the war isnt so very far away. Yes, the war that were engaged in here, fortunately, has not become yet a fighting war with guns, to a large degree. But we are divided in wa
and it s funny you bring this up because just last night, my daughter and her husband were here, and i started telling them about the novels of louis ferdinand celine, the french writer best known for the two novels that he wrote in the 1930s journey to the end of the night and death on the instalment plan which i think are two of the greatest novels of the 20th century extraordinary, energetic, brilliant novels. celine was a horrible anti semite fascist, and he wrote anti semite tracts leading up to world war ii. and that doesn t matter in appreciating his art? those books? no, it doesn t really, because these books are great. and that would apply to some of the modern day discussions about everybody from philip roth to woody allen to roman polanski, whom you ve argued for?
let me give you an example. it s funny you bringing this up because just last night, my daughter and her husband were here and i started telling them about the novels of louis ferdinand celine, the french writer best known for the two novels that he wrote in the 1930s journey to the end of the night and death on the instalment plan which i think are two of the greatest novels of the 20th century extraordinary, energetic, brilliant novels. celine was a horrible anti semite fascist and he wrote anti semitic tracts leading up to world war ii. and that doesn t matter in appreciating his art? those books? no, it doesn t really, because these books are great. and that would apply to some of the modern day discussions about everybody from philip roth to woody allen to roman polanski whom you ve argued for? listen, it s it s it s um how shall i put it?
or look at or listen to. yeah, but you are creating a false argument. it s not about expecting perfection, it s about. well. ..it s about placing somebody and their art in a context. and if that creator or artistic genius, maybe, was so flawed that their behaviours were utterly unacceptable, then does that colour the way you see their creativity? let me give you an example. it s funny you bringing this up because just last night, my daughter and her husband were here and i started telling them about the novels of louis ferdinand celine, the french writer best known for the two novels that he wrote in the 1930s journey to the end of the night and death on the instalment plan which i think are two of the greatest novels of the 20th century extraordinary, energetic,
it s funny you bringing this up because just last night, my daughter and her husband were here and i started telling them about the novels of louis ferdinand celine, the french writer best known for the two novels that he wrote in the 1930s journey to the end of the night and death on the instalment plan which i think are two of the greatest novels of the 20th century extraordinary, energetic, brilliant novels. celine was a horrible anti semite fascist and he wrote anti semitic tracts leading up to world war ii. and that doesn t matter in appreciating his art? those books? no, it doesn t really, because these books are great. and that would apply to some of the modern day discussions about everybody from philip roth to woody allen to roman polanski whom you ve argued for? listen, it s it s it s um how shall i put it? if it s in the work, then