Question: Who are some authors that inspire you?
Uzodinma Iweala: We live in a society where time is never something that anybody has; you know, and where everything should be like now, now, now – instant gratification – and not . . . I mean it’s things like books, for example. Like Beckett's "Molloy" or “Things Fall Apart”. Or take anything by Toni Morrison. Those books often don’t get the attention they should because people are so into, “I want the pleasure. I want the pleasure.” And sometimes the pleasure is in the delay of pleasure . . . You know it’s in the . . . Let’s . . . you know let me sit with this. Let me marinate on this for a little bit and see . . . see what it brings out; see the different things it brings out of me instead of the reaction that I’ve been told I shouldn’t have and that I know I have. That’s not to say that’s bad. I mean like that’s a particular form of entertainment; but it’s one that I think is overdone in our society. And I think for me I can’t be entertained in that way all the time, you know? I need . . . Like that’s good sometimes. Sometimes you just wanna go out, see your action movie, be done with it, come home. You know and like you see “The Matrix” or whatever, you see whatever film it is, and you’re like, “Oh cool,” whatever. And then you come home and you’re like, “That was great.” But if that’s how it is all the time; if you’re bombarded with these images all the time; if you’re bombarded with stories that are like them all the time, you kind of . . . you feel a little bit empty inside. And I think there . . . there are other stories, other songs, other things that are not just made for you to dance to. They’re made for you to sit and really listen to. They’re made . . . there are books that are made for you to sit and puzzle over and spend time with. There are, you know . . . like and those . . . those, I think, we need to, as a society, pay more attention to.
Recorded on: 10/7/07
Discuss
Joe Greenwell on January 16, 2008, 4:02 PM
I was recently in an airport for vacation and that fluff/instant gratification literature is all anyone reads. I am concerned with the path of literature; it is nice to hear someone else with similar feelings on this issue (and it is an issue).
Joe Greenwell on January 16, 2008, 9:02 PM
I was recently in an airport for vacation and that fluff/instant gratification literature is all anyone reads. I am concerned with the path of literature; it is nice to hear someone else with similar feelings on this issue (and it is an issue).
Mike Allbrook on January 19, 2008, 4:22 AM
When we go to airports we are travelling at such a fast pace that we do not have time for reflection. That, I believe, is why so many people read 'lazy fiction' en route. Deep reflection on great literature takes time and should ideally be free of the distractions of travel.
Mike Allbrook on January 19, 2008, 9:22 AM
When we go to airports we are travelling at such a fast pace that we do not have time for reflection. That, I believe, is why so many people read ‘lazy fiction’ en route. Deep reflection on great literature takes time and should ideally be free of the distractions of travel.
Joe Greenwell on January 19, 2008, 1:34 PM
Which is why transportation companies need to make the seats more comfortable, so I can reflect on my literature and not my ass, which 3 pages in is a asleep, and lower back.
Joe Greenwell on January 19, 2008, 6:34 PM
Which is why transportation companies need to make the seats more comfortable, so I can reflect on my literature and not my ass, which 3 pages in is a asleep, and lower back.
Bloodworth Badi on January 23, 2008, 8:39 AM
I am not concerned with the path of modern literature. There are wonderful works of fictions being produced and I am sure they will continue to be produced.
Bloodworth Badi on January 23, 2008, 1:39 PM
I am not concerned with the path of modern literature. There are wonderful works of fictions being produced and I am sure they will continue to be produced.
Anne Pici on February 18, 2008, 7:35 AM
Perhaps the time crunch's effect of some readers' going less often to the more demanding, reflective literature could be partially alleviated by short stories. Shorter reading time allows for a bit more contemplation? Of course, publishers would have to buy in to the marketing of short story collections and short story cycles, and the quality of the short stories must live up to the depth of those written by Anton Chekhov, Katherine Mansfield, Ernest .Hemingway, Alice Munro, Carol Shields, et. al
Anne Pici on February 18, 2008, 12:35 PM
Perhaps the time crunch’s effect of some readers’ going less often to the more demanding, reflective literature could be partially alleviated by short stories. Shorter reading time allows for a bit more contemplation? Of course, publishers would have to buy in to the marketing of short story collections and short story cycles, and the quality of the short stories must live up to the depth of those written by Anton Chekhov, Katherine Mansfield, Ernest .Hemingway, Alice Munro, Carol Shields, et. al
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