"There is, I admit, a certain egoism, in what I write," he once said, "always complaining about the heat or the hunger or the pain I feel. But it is terribly important to have what I write authenticated by its being lived. You could call it, I suppose, personal reportage, because the author is always present. I sometimes call it literature by foot."
It's sad that it takes a death to inspire me to finally get around to an author I've been meaning to read for ages.
I recently finished reading Shah of Shahs; found it remarkable how he could evoke the fear and paranoia of living in Iran at that time... and even now. I think I finally understand why my hairdresser (who is Iranian) became very quiet when I started questioning him, innocently and out of curiosity, about life in Iran. Hmmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about getting around to reading their books when the author's dead.
ReplyDeleteI feel that I really need to pick up Kapuscinski now, especially "Travels with Herodotus" which is coming out later this year.