Banville on the novel

 In an interview, the novelist John Banville said: 

I don’t like fiction. I don’t like the novel. It is not a very interesting form.

 

I do like fiction but don’t like the novel as a form — although I like many books that are called novels.

I’ve made a couple of attempts to talk about it, but the notes come off as grumpy and unhelpful. 

I’m making a note of this because Banville is interesting and he sounds even grumpier.

• Source: “In Conversation with John Banville,” an interview by Chris Bibsby, is here:

https://www.newwriting.net/2011/12/in-conversation-with-john-banville/

Christopher Bigsby, professor of American Studies at the University of East Anglia, has compiled a series of interviews called Writers in Conversation. This is from Vol. 3.

For more on this line of thought, see “Give me fiction, but hold the novel,” Nov. 5, 2022.