Arnon Grunberg

Humanizing

Barbaric

This afternoon during a panel discussion at the book fair here in Prague with the likeable Turkish author Elif Shafak and the likeable Austrian author Martin Prinz somebody compared writing a novel to a rather beautiful journey.
There are people who think that writing a novel makes the writer a better human being. And that people should read novels because it will make them better human beings as well.
It’s of course possible that writing and reading novels has a humanizing effect on both reader and author, but not necessarily so.
It’s also possible that the opposite happens, that writing and reading novels make both reader and author more barbaric.