July 20, 2008
federman reading from the voice
Raymond Federman -- internationally acclaimed author of DOUBLE OR NOTHING, TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT, THE TWOFOLD VIBRATION, and more than 40 other titles -- reads a selection from his 20-page novel THE VOICE IN THE CLOSET, originally written as part of THE TWO-FOLD VIBRATION and currently in print from Starcherone Press.
The Voice in the Closet -- like much of Federman's surfiction, critifiction, laughterature deals both directly and obtusely, seriously and playfully, tenderly and violently, tragically and comically with his experiences during and after the Holocaust. A living legend.
Filmed at Naropa Summer Writing Program 2008, Boulder, CO.
CLARIFICATION
Il y a une question qui revient toujours dans tous les entretiens que j’ai faits. Le rapport entre ma vie et ma fiction. C’est une question que je ne peux pas éviter. Mais je voudrais clarifier une chose une fois pour toute. Oui, une grande partie des histoires que je raconte dans mes livres sont basées sur des événements que j’ai vécus. Mais j’insiste. Ce que j’écris n’est pas de la fiction autobiographique, et certainement pas ce qu’on aime appeler ces jours-ci de l’autofiction. En fait, il se peut même que mes livres ne soient pas des romans – romans dans le sens que les éditeurs donnent à ce genre de livres. Le sous-titre de Quitte ou double [le premier volume du grand livre que j’écris depuis plus de quarante ans] dit bien ce que j’écris : Un vrai discours fictif.
Pour moi, dès que les événements [de ma vie ou de l’Histoire] passent dans le langage ils deviennent fictifs. Mallarmé l’a très s bien dit : Tout ce qui s’écrit est fictif. Donc ma réponse est simple : j’écris de la fiction, même si cette fiction semble raconter ma vie – réelle ou imaginée.
Le plus souvent les gens qui insistent que ce que j’écris est autobiographique ne savent rien de ma vie. Voila ce que j’ai dit à un éditeur qui avait refusé le manuscrit de La fourrure de ma tante Rachel, parce qu’il le trouvait trop autobiographique : Mais monsieur que savez-vous de ma vie pour dire cela? Et il me répondit : Rien.
CLARIFICATION
There is a question that is always asked when I give an interview. The relationship between my life and my fiction. This is a question I cannot avoid. But I would clarify this once and for all. Yes, a good part of the stories I tell in my books are based on events that I have lived. But I insist. What I write is not autobiographical fiction, and certainly not what the French like to call, autofiction. In fact, it is quite possible that the books I write are not novels - novels in the sense that publishers give to this type of books. The subtitle of Double or Nothing [the first volume of the big book I’ve been writing for more than forty years] states clearly what I write: a real fictitious discourse.
For me, as soon as the events [of my life or of history] are related with words they become fictitious. Mallarmé said it very clearly: all that is written is fictitious. Therefore, my answer is simple: I write fiction, even if this fiction seems to tell the story of my life – real or imagined.
Often the people who insist on saying that what I write is autobiographical know nothing about my life. This is what I once asked a publisher who rejected the manuscript of My Aunt Rachel’s Fur because he found it too autobiographical: but sire, what do you know about my life to say this? And he replied: nothing.
Pour moi, dès que les événements [de ma vie ou de l’Histoire] passent dans le langage ils deviennent fictifs. Mallarmé l’a très s bien dit : Tout ce qui s’écrit est fictif. Donc ma réponse est simple : j’écris de la fiction, même si cette fiction semble raconter ma vie – réelle ou imaginée.
Le plus souvent les gens qui insistent que ce que j’écris est autobiographique ne savent rien de ma vie. Voila ce que j’ai dit à un éditeur qui avait refusé le manuscrit de La fourrure de ma tante Rachel, parce qu’il le trouvait trop autobiographique : Mais monsieur que savez-vous de ma vie pour dire cela? Et il me répondit : Rien.
CLARIFICATION
There is a question that is always asked when I give an interview. The relationship between my life and my fiction. This is a question I cannot avoid. But I would clarify this once and for all. Yes, a good part of the stories I tell in my books are based on events that I have lived. But I insist. What I write is not autobiographical fiction, and certainly not what the French like to call, autofiction. In fact, it is quite possible that the books I write are not novels - novels in the sense that publishers give to this type of books. The subtitle of Double or Nothing [the first volume of the big book I’ve been writing for more than forty years] states clearly what I write: a real fictitious discourse.
For me, as soon as the events [of my life or of history] are related with words they become fictitious. Mallarmé said it very clearly: all that is written is fictitious. Therefore, my answer is simple: I write fiction, even if this fiction seems to tell the story of my life – real or imagined.
Often the people who insist on saying that what I write is autobiographical know nothing about my life. This is what I once asked a publisher who rejected the manuscript of My Aunt Rachel’s Fur because he found it too autobiographical: but sire, what do you know about my life to say this? And he replied: nothing.
