Via Matt Cheney I discovered this fine TED talk by Turkish novelist, Elif Shafak. She’s talking about the relationship between politics and fiction, in particular identity politics. It is good stuff.
One thought on “On Politics and Fiction”
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Great video. It’s interesting how many readers of ‘f2m’ have commented that they enjoyed the story but wish it was an autobiography of my life, instead of fiction. They crave more of my identity even though what there is of me in the book is all that needed to be there to tell the story and was relevant to a fictional character who isn’t me.
It will be even more interesting to see the reaction when I write something that doesn’t have any trans characters. Or maybe it won’t; I already know what the reaction will be – the same for anyone seen to be writing outside their prescribed identity. But then, knowing the reaction before you start and doing it anyway is part of the fun.