Fiction
December 01, 2016
December 01, 2016
I read an interview recently with a Dutch author who just published his correspondence from over the years. He said that letters that are unanswered, become a sort of fiction. He didn't explain himself, but I liked the idea. I’ve written quite a few letters this past two years that never got a reply. I've been thinking a lot about what that means to me, but not what it does to the words.
I don’t think I would ever quote from a private conversation on a public site, even if they are my own words. But I might, if it’s from an unanswered letter. By not responding, the recipient somehow loses his exclusive rights to the words. I have no evidence that they are received, read, understood, appreciated or disapproved of, and they are not sent back to me either. They are drifting in an undefined space, that might as well be a public space. That, to me, is how they become fiction.
I don’t think I would ever quote from a private conversation on a public site, even if they are my own words. But I might, if it’s from an unanswered letter. By not responding, the recipient somehow loses his exclusive rights to the words. I have no evidence that they are received, read, understood, appreciated or disapproved of, and they are not sent back to me either. They are drifting in an undefined space, that might as well be a public space. That, to me, is how they become fiction.