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The Villa Gillet has been asking writers who attend the International Forum on the Novel to select a word which underpins their work. Jonathan Lethem, Adam Thirlwell, Nuruddin Farah and James Meek explain how the words they've chosen are key to their writing A reader consults a dictionary. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod Jonathan Lethem However appalling to consider, however tedious to enact, every novel requires furniture, whether it is to be named or unnamed, for the characters will be unable to remain in standing positions for the whole duration of the story. For that matter, when night falls, whether it is depicted or occurs between chapters, characters must be permitted to sleep in beds, to rinse their faces in sinks, to glance into mirrors, and so on. (It is widely believed that after Borges mirrors are forbidden as symbols... [read full story]
