William Nicholson on Social Realism
He writes about doubt, love, equivocation…but does so with such empathy and shifts one’s perspectives with such unobtrusive skill that he widens one’s sense of what it means to be human.
After doing a fabulous in-depth Q&A with William last year, we thought we’d catch up with him again to talk about the state of modern literature.
Daniel Fraser: What, if anything, do you attribute to the decline of social realism in modern fiction? Do you find the shift worrying?
William Nicholson: Yes, I find the decline worrying. Why is it happening? Fashion, I guess. These things are cyclical. And the desire of writers to appear ‘creative’. A celebrating of style over content.
Daniel Fraser: Following on from this, what images, themes etc. come to your mind when discussing the notion of realism in fiction?
William Nicholson: The themes I follow are the themes that obsess me in my real life: love, sex, finding meaning in or through work, family and children, and facing death.
Daniel Fraser: Jenni Russell links your work with that of Linda Grant, Justin Cartwright, Sebastian Faulk and Edward St. Aubyn. What do you make of this comparison?
William Nicholson: I’m honoured by all of it.
Daniel Fraser: Would you say that what Wolfe wrote about ‘society’s fragmentation’ being the reason that it is impossible to capture the zeitgeist by writing about it, was true? Do you agree that writers have become too niche orientated?
William Nicholson: I don’t mind niches in writing. There should be books about everything. Capturing the zeitgeist is a mug’s game, you can’t set out to do it, and you only ever find out you’ve done it afterwards. Nor do I believe society has fragmented. If anything we all take our influences from too narrow a range.
Daniel Fraser: What do you think of the proliferation of online writing? Can online writing such as blogs and forums offer real insight into the human condition in the way fiction can?
William Nicholson: Any writing, on any forum, can offer real insight into the human condition. The medium is irrelevant, it’s the wisdom you need. However, if blogs or forums are full of writing produced at speed and without reflection, the level of wisdom is likely to be low.
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