INTERVIEWER
Did you read as a child?
DeLILLO
No, not at all. Comic books. This is probably why I don’t have a storytelling drive, a drive to follow a certain kind of narrative rhythm.
--I've been reading about Don DeLillo after finishing THE NAMES last week and, I don't really know what to say about this exchange from a Paris Review interview. I want to say "Well, of course you're kidding," but it seems sort of disrespectful. (He does talk about what he read later, though. This interview is also where his quote that I love "The novel’s not dead, it’s not even seriously injured" comes from.)
2 comments:
I also feel similiarly uneasy about DeLillo's apparent lack of literary influences. He's also claimed multiple times that the films of the French New Wave have had a bigger influence on him than any book. I guess you can get away with saying anything when you're a genius. :)
It's also deeply ironic given how often his books are assigned to future English majors... at least he's not saying they SHOULDN'T read anything. But a little close.
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