"I found myself remembering the day in kindergarten when the teachers showed us Dumbo, and I realized for the first time that all the kids in the class, even the bullies, rooted for Dumbo, against Dumbo's tormentors. Invariably they laughed and cheered, both when Dumbo succeeded and when bad things happened to his enemies. But they're you, I thought to myself. How did they not know? They didn't know. It was astounding, an astounding truth. Everyone thought they were Dumbo." ― Elif Batuman, The Idiot

#ElifBatuman #TheIdiot #EveryoneThoughtTheyWereDumbo

Sayaka Murata’s Alien Eye The author of “Convenience Store Woman” has gained a cult following by seeing the ordinary world as science fiction.

One of my favourite authors #ElifBatuman writes about meeting #SayakaMurata and her fiction in this wonderful piece (might be paywalled) - she might be a little strange, but I find her quite relatable.

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

I was trying to explain the effect of Heti's diaries and the first two comparisons to come to mind were #Oulipo and #ElifBatuman, not sure what to make of that