lever

A number of interesting exchanges in this (crowd-sourced) Q&A with Rae Armantrout, but I felt a shock of recognition at this passage -- I think I've resisted narrative for similar reasons for a long time, without ever having thought of this metaphor: Remember how Archimedes, when speaking of the power of leverage, said “Give me a lever long enough and I can move the earth.” I imagine the fiction writer using such a lever. The problem, of course, is finding a place to stand in outer space (or outside time) from which to wield such a device. I guess I’m saying that, since I can’t find a place outside time to stand, I don’t feel comfortable writing narrative. But that’s just me.