Vedrana Rudan

Literary influences? I was an influence to Celine, not he to me. He started first? You Americans don’t have imagination!

AL: You use a lot of vulgarities. Not a style of writing...usually associated with women writers.

VR: I have never thought of myself as a “woman.” I am a human being who lives in a country in an age that allows the poor only one weapon in their duel with life, and that’s swearing. Swearing is the scream of a victim, their only normal way of speech. If they don’t swear aloud, they swear inside. There are many people out there who, after they read my book, realized what rage was brewing inside them. I am a loser, I don’t have lots of money, I don’t have power. But, I have an opportunity to express my rage and not many people have this opportunity. I didn’t want to break any rules, I didn’t even know that there were rules in literature. And this thing about how some people think only men can swear . . . Who fucking cares about them! What’s important to me is that the book is being read.

In full:

http://www.centerforbookculture.org/interviews/interview_rudan.html