Aug 07, 2015 - PW
Photo Credit: Marion Ettlinger
Poet and novelist Naja Marie Aidt's latest is the novel Rock, Paper, Scissors, an engrossing and sharp-edged look at a collapsing family that also brings a poet's attention to language to the story. Aidt picks her 10 favorite novels by poets.
As a poet, it is almost impossible for me to read literature not centered on the language itself – which is why I have severe difficulties reading most crime fiction. A good plot or great story is not enough for me. I need the language to be precise, sensual, intense, and distinctive.
I love novelists like Vladimir Nabokov, Marguerite Duras, Paula Fox (please read Desperate Characters if you haven’t already!), and Per Petterson for just this reason. But these aren’t poets; even if their language verges on the poetic, they still fit the usual paradigm that poets write only poetry, fiction writers only fiction.
Photo Credit: Marion Ettlinger
Poet and novelist Naja Marie Aidt's latest is the novel Rock, Paper, Scissors, an engrossing and sharp-edged look at a collapsing family that also brings a poet's attention to language to the story. Aidt picks her 10 favorite novels by poets.
As a poet, it is almost impossible for me to read literature not centered on the language itself – which is why I have severe difficulties reading most crime fiction. A good plot or great story is not enough for me. I need the language to be precise, sensual, intense, and distinctive.
I love novelists like Vladimir Nabokov, Marguerite Duras, Paula Fox (please read Desperate Characters if you haven’t already!), and Per Petterson for just this reason. But these aren’t poets; even if their language verges on the poetic, they still fit the usual paradigm that poets write only poetry, fiction writers only fiction.
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