Literature as a rebellion against order and as the creation of a new possible world

Sometimes writers are afraid to know what is inevitable: that there is no such thing as “pure” art. None of us are pure or innocent: any word that has imaginative power builds culture, and culture builds behavior.

The task of good narrative – D. Foster Wallace once said, or so it seems – is to comfort those who are disturbed and to disturb those who feel at ease. I agree.

And there’s more: I believe in literature as a rebellion against order and as the creation of a new possible world.

(from a conference held at the London School of Economics, on the theme “Literature and Human Rights”)