I don’t totally agree with everything Felipe Alfau says, but I really like his fearless independence. From Center For Book Culture.org
An Interview with Felipe Alfau
By Ilan Stavans
ILAN STAVANS: Why did you become a writer?
FELIPE ALFAU: I am not a professional writer. Only by necessity have I ever received payment for my work. Dalkey Archive Press offered money for my two novels but I refused to accept it. For my poems I received $500 because I needed to pay the monthly payment here, in the retirement home. The truth is, I was never interested in writing, nor did I ever dream of making a living at my craft. I hate full-time authors. I hate intellectuals that make a living from abstractions and evasions. The art of writing has turned into an excess. Today, literature is a waste. It should be abolished, at least in the form we know: as a money-making endeavor.
IS: How do you think writers should support themselves?
FA: I am not sure, but certainly not by selling their books as jewelry.
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