Chekhov's Mistress
Jeanette Winterson on the Pen World Voices Festival
Jeanette Winterson, author of Lighthousekeeping and one of everyone’s favorite speakers at the Pen World Voices Festival has a short piece in the Times on-line (“Her Word” April, 29th) on the festival and why it’s important. Here’s an excerpt:
We are creating a world divided between faith-based fanaticism on the one hand, and amoral science and global market “logic” on the other. It is a dangerous and unhappy world, and one where many people feel powerless. What can literature do? Pamuk spoke of a writer’s contradictions — the way in which they must be able to enter into, and not just describe, situations and characters that they themselves find bewildering or unsympathetic.
This necessary conflict within the writer allows the reader to see beyond simple black and white situations. Such a conflict also forces new questions that, in turn, lead to new ways of seeing.
While the mass media tell us that a writer’s job is to entertain, a writer’s job is much more urgent than that. Writers who fear that they are surplus luxury goods forget how much can be changed when people start to think differently. Literature helps us to think differently.
comments
That’s a great excerpt - clearly she falls on the side of political engagement through literature. I had been uncertain about where I stood on it, but this has me leaning a bit more toward Ms. W’s side.
Agrees nicely with this:
“If you aren’t certain about things, if your mind is still open enough to question what you are seeing, you tend to look at the world with great care, and out of that watchfulness comes the possibility of seeing something that no one else has seen before. You have to be willing to admit that you don’t have all the answers. If you think you do, you will never have anything important to say.” - Paul Auster
– Condalmo (05/01 at 04:59 PM)
thanks for the quote - He’s quite right
– Bud Parr (05/01 at 09:45 PM)
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About this Post
- Posted by: Bud Parr
- Date: May 01, 2006
- Filed Under:
Reading Railroad: Events
- Comments:2
- Links to this Post: Technorati
