Lydia Davis: preference

Transcript context

…That you understand less well than English — can it be better because you understand it less well? No, I don’t think I experience the fiction itself or the content in a more enjoyable way. I’m experiencing both at the same time, the content probably less well, and then the language is a pleasure in itself. That doesn’t mean I would enjoy reading a washing machine how-to manual in French or German and get the same enjoyment. I read two different Peter Handke books in German, just because I wanted to. One was The Left-Handed Woman, and that he wrote in such a straightforward style and the material repeated so much that I was able to read it without a problem. Then I tried reading whatever it is, The Afternoon of a Writer, I think it’s called. That was terribly complicated with difficult constructions and huge vocabulary. I had terrible trouble with it. I already knew it in English, so it was more the challenge of the language I was after. Which languages do you dream in?…

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