And Keith has just published a new novel. I was impressed by his clear statement of his goals in writing the book. Inspired, I shall try to be honest about my own small comic novel, "A Neurotic in an Exotic Land".
My first goal was not to achieve a poetic truth, but to be funny or amusing. Along the way I did find myself attempting to achieve some realism in conversation. However, the book was intended to be mainly plot-driven, and I do not think there is any depth psychology in the drawing of the main characters. Not that I wanted them to be featureless and flat, but it was intended to be a sort of comedy.
I do hope, though one can never be sure, that it does give something of the flavor of the life of a North American living in Central Europe. That does not make the book a piece of sociology or anthropology, but I did write it after living for six years in Bratislava,
and it is inevitable that I drew upon people and places I knew there. In the end, however, since I wanted it to be funny, everything is a bit exaggerated.
I hope someday to write a book which will have some of the values that this book lacks...
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