SMITH: I was so happy when I was writing this book, to a certain degree, rediscovering the existentialists, Camus and Sartre, and remembering how life-affirming they are, to use an incredibly cheesy phrase. They take away absolutely everything. But its not misanthropic, its not cynical. Camus is the least cynical man on Earth, the most positive, the most life-grabbing. He loved men, he loved women, he loved food, he loved Algeria, he loved France. He was nothing but love for existence, for what there was. And thats the kind of writer I would like to be, without being sentimental. He wasnt sentimental. He was intellectually rigorous. It was a different kind of vision. It doesnt have to be this split between this arid intellectualism, which doesnt even want to deal with the fact that humans exist, and this overindulgent self-defense for humanity, which a lot of fiction takes on. I just felt there was a way to say, I dont know anything. I dont know where I am. I dont know whats going on-but its okay. The bottom line is: Youre going to die. Youre gonna be dead forever. Its an infinitely longer time than you ever were alive. And its painful, but of course, the thing is, its just intensely beautiful, too. Because infinite life, as even dogs in the street know, would be the hell that never ended. So its this extraordinary, beautiful gift.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 17:35:18 +0000
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