The Novel Is Not Sacred

“If everyone writes, there’ll be more bad novels. And if writing is thought sacred, they will become more boring.” The Telegraph doesn’t think the novel is dead, just boring. “The problem isn’t with the novel — it’s with the novelists. People haven’t lost the capacity for reading novels. They’re just longing for good stuff, and it’s in woefully short supply…Too much respect for the novel is part of the problem. In an age of literary festivals in every provincial town, and writing courses at every red-brick university, everyone is encouraged to be a writer, and writing is considered a sacred art.”