PRIMO LEVI
25
distorted , flat , unfocused , off-center, under- or over-exposed image;
but in every case you are guided , held by the hand by the facts, you
have ground under your feet.
Writing a novel is different, it is super-writing: you are no
longer on the ground , you fly , with all the emotions, fears and en–
thusiasms of a pioneer in a biplane made of canvas; string and
plywood ; or better, in an anchored balloon whose mooring line has
been cut. The first sensation , destined to be reduced later on to
smaller dimensions, is one of unlimited, almost licentious freedom.
You can choose whichever subject or event you wish, tragic, fan–
tastic, or comic , lunar, solar, or saturnine; you can situate it in a
time that runs from the First Day of Creation (or even before, why
not?) until today, indeed the remotest future, which you are entitled
to mold at your will. You can set your story where you wish: in the
living room of your own house, the empyrean, the court of Tamer–
lane, the hold of a fishing boat, inside a red blood cell, at the bottom
of a mine , or in a brothel: in short, in any place you have seen or in
places you've heard described, or read about, or seen at the movies
or in a photograph , or imagined, imaginary, imaginable, unimag–
inable.
All of the Earth is yours , indeed the cosmos ; and if the cosmos
seems tight to you , you can invent another that suits you.
If
it obeys
the laws of physics and common sense, fine; ifnot, fine all the same,
or perhaps even better; in any case, you will not unleash catas–
trophe , at the most some picayune reader will write you to express
urbanely his disappointment or his dissent. In short, aside from the
time you'll have wasted , the risk you run is not greater than that of
the student writing an essay in class: at the worst, you'll get a bad
mark. Isn't this a wonderful trade?
When it comes to the characters, things become a bit more
complicated. On this theme, the
menage
a
trois
among author,
character, and reader, tons of books have been written, but since I
now have become a member of the crew, I take the liberty of giving
you a piece of my mind , that is, showing my slides. Also where the
characters are concerned , at the beginning one has the impression of
a boundless freedom. In the abstract you have an absolute power
over them, such as no tyrant on the face of the earth ever had. You
can give them life , as dwarfs or giants, you can afflict them, torture
them, kill them, resurrect them; or give them the gift of beauty and
eternal youth , strength, the wisdom you do not have, the happiness
of every moment (but will you be able to describe this without boring
