July 13, 2005

Vollmann: Telling Stories is the Answer

Tito alerts me to this article at the Voice that involves sharing absinthe and conversation with William T. Vollmann. There's some fascinating revelations about what Vollmann thinks about post-9/11 politics and how Vollmann tries as hard as possible to live, as well as observe, the lives of others. But the most interesting remark is this:

"There are people dead as a result of [American] political and religious praxis," he says. "Whether we owe those dead bodies a tight, middle, or panoramic gaze, we owe those dead bodies a story."

(And for what it's worth, long gestating in the Future Entries Department is my final entry on The Rainbow Stories for The Vollmann Club. I finished the book a month ago, but hope to go through it story-by-story.)

Posted by DrMabuse at July 13, 2005 10:11 AM
Comments

Vollmann was also recently interviewed on "To the Best of our Knowledge" on public radio. They have the audio up at their site now, at http://www.wpr.org/book/050703a.html

Posted by: rasputin at July 13, 2005 12:11 PM