M. John Harrison
M. John Harrison
Michael John Harrison, known for publication purposes primarily as M. John Harrison, is an English author and literary critic. His work includes the Viriconium sequence of novels and short stories,, Climbers, and the Kefahuchi Tract trilogy which consists of Light, Nova Swingand Empty Space. He is widely considered one of the major stylists of modern fantasy and science fiction, and a "genre contrarian". The Times Literary Supplement described him as 'a singular stylist' and the Literary Review called him 'a...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth26 July 1945
Writings like gambling. Unpredictable and sporadic successes make you more addicted, not less.
Everyone loves a mysterious country.
I think it's undignified to read for the purposes of escape. After you grow up, you should start reading for other purposes
What is literature, and why do I try to write about it? I don’t know. Likewise, I don’t know why I go on living, most of the time. But this not knowing is precisely what I want to preserve. As readers, the closest way we can engage with a literary work is to protect its indeterminacy; to return ourselves and it to a place that precludes complete recognition. Really, when I’m reading, all I want is to stand amazed in front of an unknown object at odds with the world.
Stories pass the experienced world back and forth between them as a metaphor, until it is worn out. Only then do we realize that meaning is an act. We must repossess it, instant to instant in our lives.
A good ground rule for writing in any genre is, start with a form, then undermine its confidence in itself. Ask what it's afraid of, what it's trying to hide - then write that.