The Novelist’s Lexicon: Writers on the Words That Define Their Work

In this anthology from the Villa Gillet literary conference, world-renowned authors from A.S. Byatt to Enrique Vila-Matas discuss their work. At the international literary conference hosted by Villa Gillet and Le Monde, organizers asked more than seventy prominent authors to choose a word that opens a door to their work. Their musings, collected here and organized alphabetically by keyword, present an array of intriguing, amusing, and surprising insight into contemporary literature. Through these personal "passwords, " authors articulate the function of language, character, plot, and structure in their work. Jonathan Lethem discusses the necessity of "furniture" in the novel. A. S. Byatt describes the power of the narrative web. Colum McCann details the benefits of anonymity. Daniel Mendelsohn expounds on the unknowable, or what the author should or should not impart to the reader. Etgar Keret explains the importance of balagan, a Hebrew word meaning "total chaos, " and Annie Proulx clarifies terroir, which embodies the complexities of time, place, geography, weather, and climate. Other participants include Rick Moody on adumbrated, Upamanyu Chatterjee on the bildungsroman, Adam Thirwell on hedonism, Nuruddin Farah on identities, Andre Brink on the heretic, and Péter Esterhazy on the power and potential of words.