You hear all this whining going on, "Where are our great writers?" The thing I might feel doleful about is: Where are the readers?
Interpretation
This quote suggests a concern about the lack of readership rather than the absence of talented writers.
Gore Vidal's quote highlights an underlying issue in the literary world: while people often lament the absence of great writers, it is equally important to recognize the diminishing interest in reading. It implies that the vitality of literature depends on an engaged and attentive readership, and without them, even the greatest writers may struggle to find their place in a society that values other forms of entertainment over reading.
In practice
During a literary event, one might say, 'Gore Vidal once pointed out the real concern lies not in the absence of great writers but in the lack of readers.'
We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.
Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
For the average American, freedom of speech is simply the freedom to repeat what everyone else is saying and no more.
Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.
I wrote The Grapes of Wrath in one hundred days, but many years of preparation preceded it.
You want in all cases for the story to get through the writing.
A lot of people have no idea that right now Y.A. (young adult). is the Garden of Eden of literature.
Ah yes, the paradox of publicity is that even as we do it, we know it's killing off the chance of another reader happening across our book in the ideal state of innocence.
The only sensible ends of literature are, first, the pleasurable toil of writing; second, the gratification of one's family and friends; and lastly, the solid cash.
The novel that an author writes is often not the novel that the reader reads, and most of the 'messages' in a novel are put there by the reader. There's nothing wrong with that, of course. That's how literature functions.
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