At the renowned, international literary conference hosted by Villa Gillet and Le Monde, organizers asked more than seventy prominent authors to choose a word that opens a door to their work. Their musings, collected here for the first time, offer an extraordinary portrait of writing and reading from the novelist's perspective. Organized alphabetically by keyword, the anthology is filled with intriguing, amusing, and often surprising insight, essential to an intimate understanding of literature.
Through these personal "passwords," authors articulate the function of language, character, plot, and structure. Throughout the process, they reveal their relationship to the elements of story. Jonathan Lethem discusses the necessity of "furniture" in the novel. A. S. Byatt describes the power of the narrative web. Colum McCann details the benefits of anonymity. Daniel Mendelsohn expounds on the unknowable, or what the author should or should not impart to the reader. Etgar Keret explains the importance of balagan, a Hebrew word meaning "total chaos," and Annie Proulx clarifies terroir, which embodies the complexities of time, place, geography, weather, and climate. Other participants include Rick Moody on adumbrated, Upamanyu Chatterjee on the bildungsroman, Enrique Vila-Matas on discipline, Adam Thirwell on hedonism, Nuruddin Farah on identities, Andre Brink on the heretic, and Péter Esterhazy on the power and potential of words, words, words.
- CONTENTS
- FOREWORD: THE COURAGE OF WORDS
- PREFACE: APT WORDS
- A
- ADUMBRATED: RICK MOODY
- ALETHERATURE: HÉLÈNE CIXOUS
- AMEN: ZERUYA SHALEV
- ANONYMITY: COLUM MCCANN
- AUTOFICTION: PHILIPPE VILAIN
- AVAILABLE: LYONEL TROUILLOT
- AWARENESS OF BANALITY: DIMITRI VERHULST
- B
- BALAGAN: ETGAR KERET
- THE BANANA REPUBLIC OF LETTERS: CHLOÉ DELAUME
- BEAUTY: ROBERT DESSAIX
- BILDUNGSROMAN: UPAMANYU CHATTERJEE
- BRETON: CHRISTOPHE HONORÉ
- BRICOLEUR: MONIKA FAGERHOLM
- C
- CATIN: JACQUES HENRIC
- CHAFF: AYERDHAL
- CINDERELLA: ERIC REINHARDT
- CREATURE: ALISSA YORK
- CUNNILINGUS: RIKKI DUCORNET
- D
- DISAPPOINTMENT: NELLY ARCAN
- DISCIPLINE: ENRIQUE VILA-MATAS
- DREAM: DANY LAFERRIÈRE
- E
- ÉCHAPÉE: MARIE DESPLECHIN
- EVOLUTION: KAREN CONNELLY
- F
- FAIRE: CHRISTINE ANGOT
- FILLE: ALAIN FLEISCHER
- FURNITURE: JONATHAN LETHEM
- H
- HAPPINESS: WEI-WEI
- HARMONY AND RECONCILIATION: HWANG SOK-YONG
- HEDONISM: ADAM THIRLWELL
- HERETIC: ANDRÉ BRINK
- HONESTY: PETER STAMM
- I
- “I”: RACHID EL-DAÏF
- IDENTITIES: NURUDDIN FARAH
- WISE IMAGINATION: PASCAL MERCIER
- INDIA: TARUN J. TEJPA
- INSOMNIA: LUDMILA ULITSKAYA
- ISLAND: ERRI DE LUCA
- L
- TO LAST: GIUSEPPE CULICCHIA
- LAUGHTER: TARIQ ALI
- LIES: ADRIAAN VAN DIS
- M
- MARIQUITA: JAMES CAÑÓN
- THE MEANING OF A WORD . . .: KIRSTY GUNN
- THE STROLLING MIRROR: RODRIGO FRESÁN
- N
- NO: OLIVIA ROSENTHAL
- NO WHY: YANNICK HAENEL
- NOMAD: ELIF SHAFAK
- THE NOVEL AS WEB: A. S. BYATT
- NOVEL/LIFE: JAMES MEEK
- WHAT IS THE NOVEL?: ALAA EL ASWANY
- NOVICE: NICOLAS FARGUES
- P
- PARALIPOMENA: LYDIE SALVAYRE
- PATHOS: ALBERTO GARLINI
- PHANTOM: YING CHEN
- PHYSICAL: LUC LANG
- PLAGUE: DAVID PEACE
- (THE) PRESENT: JEAN-YVES CENDREY
- R
- “REAL”: PHILIPPE FOREST
- THE REAL: NICOLE MALINCONI
- (HOLY) RUSSIA: GENEVIÈVE BRISAC
- S
- A SUCCESSFUL SENTENCE: GILA LUSTIGER
- SHADOW: ELISABETTA RASY
- SIGNED D.C.: DENNIS COOPER
- SILENCE: DAVID ALBAHARI
- THE DEPOPULATED SKIES: THOMAS JONIGK
- SUFFERING: FATOS KONGOLI
- T
- U
- UN-: JONAS HASSEN KHEMIRI
- UNKNOWABLE: DANIEL MENDELSOHN
- THE UNREAL: ARTHUR JAPIN
- W
- WAITING/ATTENTION: ANNE WEBER
- WOMAN: BENOÎTE GROULT
- THE WORD WORD: LESLIE KAPLAN
- “WORDS, WORDS, WORDS”: PÉTER ESTERHÁZY
- WORK: RAFAEL CHIRBES
- Y
- Z
- CONTRIBUTORS
- INDEX
- CREDITS
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