There's no present left. This is the problem for a novelist. [The problem] is the present is gone. We're all living in the future constantly. . Back in the day Leo Tolstoy -- what a sweetheart of a count and of a writer -- in the 1860's he wanted to write about the Napoleonic Campaign, about 1812. If you write about 1812 in 1860, a horse is still a horse. A carriage is still a carriage. Obviously, there are been some technological advancements, et cetera, but you don't have to worry about explaining the next killer [iPhone] app or the next Facebook because right now things are happening so quickly. ("Gary Shteyngart: Finding 'Love' In A Dismal Future", NPR interview, August 2, 2010). Gary Shteyngart
About This Quote

In his NPR interview, Shteyngart explains the problem with writing about the present. In order to write a novel set in the present, you have to create a future that is just as fast-paced and yet still believable. If a character has a gray hair on their head, that's too old for a character in a novel set in today's world. To have any longevity in a story set in the present, the characters must have hair that is still black and shiny.

In order for someone to find true love, they must live in a world where love of this kind is still possible. In order for someone to find true love, they must live in a world where love of this kind is still possible.

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