The novelist's lexicon : writers on the words that define their work / edited by Villa Gillet.

Format:

Book

Conference/Event

Contributor:

Monde, Villa Gillet / Le, editor.

Villa Gillet (Association)

Conference Name:

Assises internationales du roman (3rd : 2009 : Lyon, France)

Standardized Title:

Lexique nomade. English.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fiction--Technique--Congresses.

Fiction.

Fiction--Authorship--Congresses.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (169 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

At the renowned, international literary conference hosted by Villa Gillet and Le Monde, organizers asked more than seventy prominent authors to choose a word that opens a door to their work. Their musings, collected here for the first time, offer an extraordinary portrait of writing and reading from the novelist's perspective. Organized alphabetically by keyword, the anthology is filled with intriguing, amusing, and often surprising insight, essential to an intimate understanding of literature. Through these personal "passwords," authors articulate the function of language, character, plot, and structure. Throughout the process, they reveal their relationship to the elements of story. Jonathan Lethem discusses the necessity of "furniture" in the novel. A. S. Byatt describes the power of the narrative web. Colum McCann details the benefits of anonymity. Daniel Mendelsohn expounds on the unknowable, or what the author should or should not impart to the reader. Etgar Keret explains the importance of balagan, a Hebrew word meaning "total chaos," and Annie Proulx clarifies terroir, which embodies the complexities of time, place, geography, weather, and climate. Other participants include Rick Moody on adumbrated, Upamanyu Chatterjee on the bildungsroman, Enrique Vila-Matas on discipline, Adam Thirwell on hedonism, Nuruddin Farah on identities, Andre Brink on the heretic, and Péter Esterhazy on the power and potential of words, words, words.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword: The Courage of Words / Walter, Guy

Preface: Apt Words / Solé, Robert / Temerson, Catherine

A

Adumbrated / Moody, Rick

Aletherature / Cixous, Hélène

Amen / Shalev, Zeruya

Anonymity / McCann, Colum

Autofiction / Vilain, Philippe

Available / Trouillot, Lyonel

Awareness of Banality / Verhulst, Dimitri

B

Balagan / Keret, Etgar

The Banana Republic of Letters / Delaume, Chloé

Beauty / Dessaix, Robert

Bildungsroman / Chatterjee, Upamanyu

Breton / Honoré, Christophe

Bricoleur / Fagerholm, Monika

C

Catin / Henric, Jacques

Chaff / Ayerdhal

Cinderella / Reinhardt, Eric

Creature / York, Alissa

Cunnilingus / Ducornet, Rikki

D

Disappointment / Arcan, Nelly

Discipline / Vila-Matas, Enrique

Dream / Laferrière, Dany

E

Échapée / Desplechin, Marie

Evolution / Connelly, Karen

F

Faire / Angot, Christine

Fille / Fleischer, Alain

Furniture / Lethem, Jonathan

H

Happiness / Wei-Wei

Harmony and Reconciliation / Sok-Yong, Hwang

Hedonism / Thirlwell, Adam

Heretic / Brink, André

Honesty / Stamm, Peter

I

"I" / El-Daïf, Rachid

Identities / Farah, Nuruddin

Wise Imagination / Mercier, Pascal

India / Tejpal, Tarun J.

Insomnia / Ulitskaya, Ludmila

Island / Luca, Erri de

L

To Last / Culicchia, Giuseppe

Laughter / Ali, Tariq

Lies / Dis, Adriaan van

Loyalty / Huong, Duong Thu

M

Mariquita / Cañón, James

The Meaning of a Word / Gunn, Kirsty

The Strolling Mirror / Fresán, Rodrigo

N

No / Rosenthal, Olivia

No Why / Haenel, Yannick

Nomad / Shafak, Elif

The Novel as Web / Byatt, A. S.

Novel/Life / Meek, James

What Is the Novel? / Aswany, Alaa El

Novice / Fargues, Nicolas

P

Paralipomena / Salvayre, Lydie

Pathos / Garlini, Alberto

Phantom / Chen, Ying

Physical / Lang, Luc

Plague / Peace, David

(The) Present / Cendrey, Jean-Yves

R

"Real" / Forest, Philippe

The Real / Malinconi, Nicole

(Holy) Russia / Brisac, Geneviève

S

A Successful Sentence / Lustiger, Gila

Shadow / Rasy, Elisabetta

Signed D.C. / Cooper, Dennis

Silence / Albahari, David

The Depopulated Skies / Jonigk, Thomas

Suffering / Kongoli, Fatos

T

Terroir / Proulx, Annie

U

Un- / Hassen Khemiri, Jonas

Unknowable / Mendelsohn, Daniel

The Unreal / Japin, Arthur

W

Waiting/Attention / Weber, Anne

Woman / Groult, Benoîte

The Word Word / Kaplan, Leslie

"Words, Words, Words" / Esterházy, Péter

Work / Chirbes, Rafael

Y

Yusuf / Saadi, Suhayl

Z

Zorby / Flint, James

Contributors

Index

Backmatter

Notes:

Translation of: Lexique nomade [a collection of short meditations by contemporary novelists at the 3rd Assises internationales du roman].

Includes index.

ISBN:

9786612872334

9781282872332

1282872338

9780231521697

0231521693

OCLC:

698589720