Over at Bookslut there is a great interview with author Victor Lavalle. I've seen his books around but I'm yet to read his work. The interview reveals Lavalle to be an extremely interesting writer and I'm going to try and read one of his books soon. What he has to say about realism in literature is fascinating and his philosophy is one I can totally connect with:
"It has always seemed to me that realism attempts to describe what daily life looks like while the fantastic attempts to express what daily life feels like. Getting evicted from your home -- I mean genuine court-ordered, City Marshal enforced eviction -- can feel like an episode from a piece of Gothic fiction. The reportorial aspects of realism just aren't going to capture the matter. I can't fathom how only one type of writing -- whether realism, the fantastic, romance, mystery, etc. -- can ever summarize life on its own. Using all of it -- within the same book, sometimes within the same sentence -- seems like the only sensible way to try and capture the whole spectrum of human experience."
It's worth both reading this interview and checking out this great site. Enjoy.
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