You hear all this whining going on, "Where are our great writers?" The thing I might feel doleful about is: Where are the readers?
Interpretation
This quote suggests a concern about the lack of readership rather than the absence of talented writers.
Gore Vidal's quote highlights an underlying issue in the literary world: while people often lament the absence of great writers, it is equally important to recognize the diminishing interest in reading. It implies that the vitality of literature depends on an engaged and attentive readership, and without them, even the greatest writers may struggle to find their place in a society that values other forms of entertainment over reading.
In practice
During a literary event, one might say, 'Gore Vidal once pointed out the real concern lies not in the absence of great writers but in the lack of readers.'
We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.
Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
For the average American, freedom of speech is simply the freedom to repeat what everyone else is saying and no more.
Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.
But I too hate long books: the better, the worse. If they're bad they merely make me pant with the effort of holding them up for a few minutes. But if they're good, I turn into a social moron for days, refusing to go out of my room, scowling and growling at interruptions, ignoring weddings and funerals, and making enemies out of friends. I still bear the scars of Middlemarch.
I belong to Russian literature, but I am an American citizen, and I think it's the best possible combination.
I think the reason these readers come back to me is because I represent their points of view. It may not be my point of view, but that's OK. Everyone still deserves to have their say.
I don't know where people got the idea that characters in books are supposed to be likable. Books are not in the business of creating merely likeable characters with whom you can have some simple identification with. Books are in the business of creating great stories that make you're brain go ahhbdgbdmerhbergurhbudgerbudbaaarr.
All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.
Readers embrace all kinds of characters as long as they are written with emotional truth.
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