Post-lecture discussion of his own writing

Abstract

Mature literary production prioritizes clarity and “good literary manners” over the stilted obscurity of youth. The shift toward a straightforward narrative style, modeled on early Kipling, necessitates a departure from established tropes such as mazes and mirrors. Setting fiction in the historical past—specifically the slums of late 19th-century Buenos Aires—provides sufficient distance for imaginative freedom without the constraints of contemporary factual accuracy. This creative process occupies a space between dreaming and thinking, where specific realistic details are selectively integrated into essentially abstract worlds to orient the reader. Despite efforts to diversify subjects, the act of writing remains an unintentional form of self-portraiture, often resulting in the repetition of core themes across different genres and settings. The rejection of the novel and direct psychological analysis leads to a reliance on character revelation through external action, a technique derived from Norse sagas. Philosophical and metaphysical concepts are utilized exclusively for their aesthetic possibilities rather than as formal ideological commitments. Ultimately, the writer’s voice emerges as a fixed constant, tethering the work to a singular identity despite attempts to achieve anonymity or varied perspectives. – AI-generated abstract.