And I said, “Enough to make you blush.”
And, obviously, I am not quite Spenser. Well, I’m unarmed for instance. But the superficial stuff, again, I use what I know. I was in Korea, he was in Korea. I lift weights, he lifts weights. I’ve never been a cop, never been a private eye, never fought Joe Walcott. I don’t have a close friend named Hawk.
But, you know, all writing is to some extent autobiographical because when you’re working with the imagination, you don’t have anything else to work with. Some kid once in a writing class said, “Is it okay to write about real life?”
And I said, “As opposed to what?”
And this is what I’ve got, so I make stuff out of it and I change it. There’s a wonderful passage in T.S. Elliot’s critical writings where he talks about the imagination. You take a bell jar, and put an inert gas in it and you add a piece of tungsten, I think it is, and it changes the gas so that the gas is not what it was. And he said, “That’s the imagination.” I think he was talking about poets, so he described that as the poet’s imagination: that piece of tungsten that takes something and changes it so that it’s something else, by being a party to it. And so all of it is filtered through my imagination. I quote people a lot because I have nothing original to say. If I would have thought of that, I would have said it.
So yes, there’s a lot to be said there. Will they ever marry? Probably not, but I don’t know that they won’t. They seem happy the way that they are.
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Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
Very very nice. I'll read it fully, later.
So were you talking to him while he signed books or had you scheduled something ahead? In either case, I'll have to pay more attention to authors coming through Phoenix.
2 - Knittgirl
It's Spenser - not Spencer.
3 - Eric Berlin
Temple, I talked to him for 40 minutes, so I had it all set up ahead, worked out through the publisher. Look out for installments II and III on the interview later this week!
Knittgirl - Thanks, change now reflected.
4 - Scott Butki
I'm so jealous you got to interview Parker.
5 - Eric Berlin
Thanks Scott. It was a thrill to meet him in person.
6 - Phillip Winn
Wow. I remember this interview. And I'm sure that you, Eric, remember why I remember this interview. :-)
7 - Eric Berlin
Yes, it was indeed some of my finest work...
(heh.)
8 - Scott Butki
Hmm, now you've piqued my curiousity. Why was it memorable for Phillip?
9 - Eric Berlin
On a bright spring morning, I broke the site for a while. Robert B. Parker was unwittingly involved. Long story...
10 - s. Wahrenbrock
I just discovered Robert Baker. He is remarkable. Very spare and witty. Can't wait to read ALL of his stuff. Didn't know until this interview reading that he has a Ph.d, but as an English major,It was very logical that this guy knows his stuff. Keep up the good work, Mr. Parker.