DeepSummary
The episode features an interview with author Hilary Leichter, discussing her new novel 'Terrace Story' and her approach to writing fiction that resists explanation. Leichter shares how the novel expanded from an initial short story dealing with themes of intimacy, distance, and loss, inspired by her experience living in a small apartment during the pandemic lockdown. She emphasizes creating narratives that require active participation from the reader and leave room for interpretation.
Leichter explains how she aims to capture the complexities of time and memory within her fiction, acknowledging that books don't necessarily move forward linearly but rather reverberate in conversation with other works. The novel explores different forms of grief - from personal loss to the collective grief of climate change - through the lens of a unique premise involving a couple whose closet transforms into a beautiful terrace.
The conversation delves into Leichter's interest in incorporating elements of fairy tales and folklore to tap into a sense of pre-history and pre-memory. Leichter shares her perspective on the purpose of novels in an age of abundant narrative forms, advocating for fiction that challenges readers and becomes a lived experience rather than mere consumption.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Leichter's novel 'Terrace Story' resists straightforward explanations and invites reader interpretation.
- The novel explores themes of intimacy, distance, grief, loss, and the complexities of time and memory.
- Leichter aims to create fiction that becomes an immersive, lived experience for the reader, rather than mere consumption.
- The novel incorporates elements of fairy tales and folklore to tap into a sense of pre-history and pre-memory.
- Leichter challenges the notion of 'spoilers' in fiction, suggesting that true storytelling transcends plot details.
- The conversation offers insights into Leichter's writing process and her approach to crafting narratives that require active participation from the reader.
- The novel expanded from an initial short story premise inspired by Leichter's experience during the pandemic lockdown.
- Leichter believes books exist in a continuum, reverberating and conversing with other works in a non-linear fashion.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “I was thinking a lot about the collective grief that we were all experiencing, and then the personal grief of losing people. And the kind of distance that can't be bridged when someone is gone forever, whether because of death or anything else. And so that was on my mind.“ by Hilary Leichter
- “I really believe that books don't move forward in time. They reverberate and the biggest evidence of that, to me is that they're in conversation with books that you've never read, both because you've read the authors who have read those authors who have read other authors, and then people have read you that you don't know about.“ by Hilary Leichter
- “A lot of people have been asking me about it and what it means and what the intent was behind it. So I've kind of had to reverse engineer my intentions with it and figure out why I knew it had to stay there.“ by Hilary Leichter
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Episode Information
The Maris Review
Maris Kreizman
8/31/23