jOi Williams, 80, has written five novels and four short story collections and has received several awards. His latest book of stories, About the future of souls: 99 Stories of Azrael (Tusker Rock), released earlier this year. His work ranges from philosophical explorations of existence, faith, and morality to urgent engagements with environmental disasters; James Salter wrote about her that she belonged to the company of Celine and Flannery O'Connor. Born in Massachusetts, he now lives in the Sonoran Desert.
Your previous set is called 99 Stories of GodNow you're gone Azrael (angel of death and soul kidnapper) As a lesson. What attracted you to him?
I read in a collection by WS Mervyn a translation of Hadrian's deathbed poem to his soul. Animal smooth bum – Very sad and concise. The soul is a worthy object. Azrael has always fascinated me: he is death, but not exactly death. It was the most beautiful creation of Islam. I imagine him as responsible for all the souls on this earth.
Azrael is often depicted jumping the devil How do you think their relationship works? He seems more important than he is with God.
After his one conversation with Azrael, God did not communicate much with him. The devil is more than willing to confront this wonderful innocent whose duty is to transport souls, an increasingly disturbing and strange job.
Tell us a little about why brevity and brevity are so important in your work; some of the stories here are only a few lines long.
souls Similar in method and method. 99 Stories of GodIt was written about eight years ago, but I pay more attention to it. It was written in such a short period of time, in such a fascinating time, that I knew, literally, that something would land on my desk every day, a small essential piece of something bigger. The brevity of these luminous gifts was essential to their mysterious power and effect – at least their power over me. I don't know if something like this can be put back together.
He has been writing about the climate emergency and environmental destruction for years. I'm wondering if your thinking about how to represent that in fiction has evolved and where you think it might go.
I always try to convince myself that it's fiction. I'm going to eat Throw away the crutches that have sustained you for so long. The comfortable narrative must change. It should be more whimsical and less personal.
You grew up in Maine, a Only child, your father is a Council Minister. Were there specific aspects of your upbringing that shaped you as a writer?
It looks gothic. But it was elegantly informal.
Would you describe yourself as a metaphysical writer? There are many concrete and earthly details in your work, but in general you are concerned with arriving at truths that cannot be immediately observed or demonstrated.
There is always this tension, a strong tension, in American writing. I have always seen guilt, materialistic longing, and hope for change as the voice of America. There's Cheever, Cormac McCarthy definitely.
You are not alone in this – marilyn robinson An example, and writers in their own way etc Don De Lillo, Richard Powers AND Rachel Kushner. Do you think there's a particular American heritage to this type of writing?
Marilyn Robinson says she read Moby Dick She was nine years old. I want to say something like that! I was reading books about horses, books about dogs, Baba Yaga stories. Jack and Jill Journaling: My library card was my most prized possession, but I didn't read very carefully.
You started writing early in your life. Published on 22. What kind of writer do you want to be and do you think you could be?
I wrote my first story when I was in high school. It's about a lonely woman traveling home on a bus to an unspecified tragedy, her thoughts. I sent Seventeen magazine. They had a fiction contest. I never asked them. My parents said it must have been lost in the mail.
What writers were important to you growing up? I think Emily Dickinson is one of them…
I studied Emily Dickinson in college. I submitted an article to a thesis magazine about a photograph of Emily that clearly shows both sides of her personality; His face is practically divided in half: dark and light. I never heard from them again.
while you read Iowa, Raymond Carver AND Richard Yates They were around. Did it make an impression on you?
I'm friends with Ray and his wife Marion. He was writing poetry at Iowa, but I was in some fiction classes with him before he left the program: he gave me his copy. A novel by William Styron. Lie down in the dark. I don't think I need it. Richard Yates visited him for a year. He seemed worried. your collection Eleven types of loneliness It just came out and the stories seemed very old to me. Students are cruel, of course. The last thing they want is to be inspired by the previous generation.
After newsletter promotion
I once read a lecture you cited. Mark TwainA quote about a writer who needs a pen is “burned in hell”Write with sincerity and substance. What does that mean in your work?
Yes, these pens are a must-have – there aren't enough of them. A writer must also have a sense of anger and wonder. There is something truly incomprehensible about the fact that we are here.
How do you spell it, I mean physically and logistically? I don't think you ever use a computer.
I have several typewriters and something is wrong with them. I sent my favorite to be cleaned and UPS lost it. Now I don't have a favorite. This is not optimal.
Is there a book or author that you keep coming back to?
I am always reading poems, comments and writings by Maurice Nicol.
What have you enjoyed reading lately?
I have finished the deer Doctor Faust For the first time, and wonderful novels by Andrei Platonov. More recently I have been inspired by Ta-Nehisi Coates. news.
