The World Doesn’t Require You is a masterpiece of true imagination, art that reminds me of the work it takes to make a meal from scratch, straight from the farmer’s market, in a literary fiction world of Blue Apron subscription boxes.
In a literary landscape that is embracing more and more the concept of autofiction and genre hybridity, when a piece of true imagination that does what fiction is supposed to do-which is to create a world and make you believe in its truth and existence-absolutely captures you and deposits you in another world that still feels so much like your own, you cannot fathom that it’s completely made up or at least did not originate from some already known landscape. Later during the following week, as our conversation kept playing in my mind, I realized that it’s been a long time since I’ve read fiction like Scott’s. Rion interrupted me before I finished my question and said, “I guess I want to flip that around to you and ask why does it matter?” Slightly embarrassed-okay, I’ll keep it real, more than slightly embarrassed-I immediately responded, “it doesn’t,” and came up with an excuse as to why I was so set on finding out where this fictional town exists in real life. I mentioned that I had been playing detective while reading his new collection, The World Doesn’t Require You, looking for clues as to where Cross River could be in the state of Maryland, where we both reside. Ever since I met up with Rion Amilcar Scott for lunch one Friday midday, an exchange we had has been running over and over in my mind.
0 kommentar(er)
