In the latest Entertainment Weekly, Ian McEwan discusses his new novel Sunday and the main character's distaste for literature.

You often hear novelists proclaim solemnly that we all need stories and narrative and life is meaningless without reading a novel. Most people get by from week to week without reading one. As far as [the character] Perowne is concerned, he's living proof of this. And yet, of course, he's in a novel.

Let's break this down to a couple points.

First, I agree with the overall idea that novels aren't necessary in everyone's lives, that the enriching power of literature isn't something everyone wants or desires. Literature can be a powerful tool... it can also just be a huge bunch o' words, sound and fury signifying nothing.

Second, I'm actually someone who does believe that people need stories and narratives... but why immediately equate this with a novel or literature in general? We've got movies, television, comic books, video games... There's a wealth of narrative forms available in our modern world, and we can find the sustenance of storytelling without resorting to literature. (That or expand one's definition of literature to the point where it's meaningless.)

I've read McEwan before, though I haven't read Atonement yet. Sooner or later I'll get around to it.

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