From Enrique Serna’s “Living Treasure” in Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction:
“She now pitied the friends she used to admire. Take Serge, for instance. All that frustration distilled in his bloodless pronouncements on books and movies. The night before he had dissected Michel Houllebecq’s latest novel—even though he’d only read the first hundred pages—as if he were reciting the charges against a heretic . . .”

Edward Champion writes [Stage 4]:
While Nabokov rather famously declared that he needed to know the lay of the land before writing a narrative, I don’t think these rules apply to Kraft.

Kraft has been writing about Babbington for 25 years or more. I think his books are really about Babbington more than they are about the characters who live there. The characters are attributes of Babbington but aren’t well defined themselves. Look at his earliest Babbington novellas (and it seems none of you have–although I don’t want to ask you to like Flying because you haven’t). He is playing around with the narrator in, I think, very funny ways. His earlier novels were kind to Babbington but Flying is a big send-up to its present-day pretensions as a tourist destination.

Edward Champion writes [Stage 4]:
And that, irrespective of the positive places that Kathleeen brings up, seems to me especially tragic. The idea of dishonoring the wonderful entity that you created in your imagination. Very much like Don Quixote. But unlike Quixote, Peter isn’t really mocked for his efforts. He’s secured an entire subjective realm through his memoirs. But should not some of this be challenged? Should not some of this be mocked? Is it entirely fair to Peter to have him continue like this? Shall we send a case worker over to the Kraft household to ensure that he is treating his creations well?

At Swim Two Birds, by Flann O’Brien. It is funny when characters escape their author’s tyranny.

Anne Fernald writes [Stage 4]:
Sometimes, I even wonder if they are characters to him. It bothers me, for example, that shortly after her release from hospital from a fractured pelvis, Albertine is willing to go along with Peter’s search for a spot to make love en plein air. I’m sorry to be so dogged, but that injury felt really real to me — funny, but also a smart way of showing off their connection, Peter’s failings — and I wanted a line that assured me she was recovered enough for such an adventure. (I know how flat-footed and dumb that sounds, but it broke the illusion for me in ways that were not good.)

Kraft does what he wants with his characters. That is probably another of Peter’s fantasies about Albertine rather than something that happened to the character of Albertine. Kraft does that.

Brian Francis Slattery writes [Stage 4]:
For instance, why would someone write such a long book that stays so breezy throughout? Aren’t light, comic novels supposed to be short?

The first two parts of Flying were released as short novels (about 200 pages) in hardback. The third should have been, also, I think.