Literature often depends on the strategic disappointment of expectation. Sometimes, the effect of that is humorous; at other times, it’s unnerving: I consider it crucial to the composition of a novel. Laughter is physical; it involves the body of the reader in the book in a way that other responses don’t. It’s a tonal antidote to the many reasons for despair offered up in contemporary novels.
Ben Lerner talks with Max Liu about poetry, fiction, contemporary art, and laughter in an interview with Max Liu over at Frieze’s blog.
