Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2000. [Vol. 6.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)
Book reviews - Judit Ágnes Kádár: Zoltán Abádi-Nagy: Világregény— Regényvilág: Amerikai íróinterjúk (The Novel of the World—The World of the Novel: Conversations with American Writers.)
experience of the writing process (e.g. Doctorow 168). They all disregard the relevance of preconceptions formulating the texts versus the role of a partly spontaneous play with language and intuitions. As for another thing, the world of the novel and the novel of the world are problematized through the language of their novels (e.g. Sukenick 184). A fundamental question Abádi-Nagy addresses to Sukenick (189), but touches in the other interview as well is: "Hogyan segít bennünket sorsunk lényegének alakításában az a széppróza, amelyik elutasítja a mimetikus modellt? [How can prose writing, that refuses the mimetic model, contribute to/foster the better management of our own life? —Trans, mine] A shared answer seems to be similar to Sukenick's reaction: art is not a therapy but rather a way of thinking on its own right (190), while Federman adds that the function of literature is not to make the world a better place but a nicer, more habitable one (226). A further common marker of these artists is the thorough understanding of contemporary America. For instance regarding the order/chaos disparity in the Doctorow interview (170-1) or Gaddis's understanding of the corporate world and its 'hones hypocrites' (136), Abádi-Nagy claims, that "A JR írója nyilván hatalmas tudással rendelkezett a spekulációs és manipulációs dzsungel mentalitására és kliséire vonatkozóan. [The writer of JR undoubtedly possessed an immense intellectual capacity to capture the mentality and clichés of the jungle of speculation and manipulation. —Trans, mine] (137)." The critic/journalist's own understanding counterparts that of the interviewed persons', for example regarding the American Dream and the socially non-mature dreamers who are easy to manipulate (137). In addition, for all of them insanity appears as a quintessential part of contemporaiy existence (Gaddis interview 135), and they tend to investigate strategies how to cope with it, how to comprehend manipulation strategies and how to escape them. Finally, all of them seem to be satisfied with the interviewer's set of questions and openness. Gaddis's interview presents a rising interest in answering after having experienced epiphanic revelations regarding some aspects of his writing that had been unrevealed even for himself before, take Gaddis's view on Carpenter's Gothic (142) and later on his appreciation of Abádi-Nagy's critical interpretation of the novel (145). As for another example, Federman "Őszintén 215
