theparisreview: “Story becomes a subject, I hope, in all sorts of ways. An implicit and an explicit subject. Why people tell stories, how people tell stories, who’s telling them, questions of audience, the political ramifications of stories, the survival dimension of stories, stories as a way of saving and refining and sophisticating language, stories as language, language as story, culture, how a very distinct African American culture is underpinned by a language and an attitude toward language. Not simply in the way, say, French language is related to French literature—that’s an easy one—or the way German language is related to German literature. It’s more complex when you’re talking about African American language and experience and culture, and I set out to investigate and highlight that and project some of my thinking about those things; so it’s a conscious project and I think the books express that.” —John Edgar Wideman, The Art of Fiction No. 171

theparisreview:

“Story becomes a subject, I hope, in all sorts of ways. An implicit and an explicit subject. Why people tell stories, how people tell stories, who’s telling them, questions of audience, the political ramifications of stories, the survival dimension of stories, stories as a way of saving and refining and sophisticating language, stories as language, language as story, culture, how a very distinct African American culture is underpinned by a language and an attitude toward language. Not simply in the way, say, French language is related to French literature—that’s an easy one—or the way German language is related to German literature. It’s more complex when you’re talking about African American language and experience and culture, and I set out to investigate and highlight that and project some of my thinking about those things; so it’s a conscious project and I think the books express that.”

—John Edgar Wideman, The Art of Fiction No. 171

Source: theparisreview