Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)

Studies - Zoltán Abádi-Nagy: Conversations with Raymod Federman: Take It or Leave It and The Voice in the Closet

Vibration possible as a new departure in my fiction. Therefore, yes, you are right. The Voice in the Closet marks the end of one phase, one project, in my work, and the beginning of another. I always think of Double or Nothing

, Amer Eldorado, and Take It or Leave It as one project, perhaps even a trilogy. By the time I got into the next project (The Voice in the Closet, The Twofold Vibration, Smiles on Washington Square

—these three books also have something in common, if not stylistically at least thematically), ten years had passed since I started Double or Nothing, and I felt I could say certain things, make certain pronouncements which I could not have made in the earlier books. With The Voice in the Closet I was able to write about my experience of the Holocaust without being sentimental or selfpitying. And I think the same is true of The Twofold Vibration, even though the tone there is not as serious as in The Voice. I think of the more recent works as being moral books, whereas one could say that Double or Nothing and Take It or Leave It have a kind of moral irresponsibility. Perhaps that's how it should be with the early work of a writer. One should move from irresponsibility to responsibility

— moral as well as aesthetic. Witold Gombrowicz defined this as the process of maturity in a writer. Some writers remain irresponsible and immature their entire writing life, and others move towards responsibility and maturity in their work (I would like to think of myself in that category), and others still begin with responsibility and maturity and have nowhere to go (they are usually boring). I think of The Twofold Vibration as ? book which goes toward establishing a form of morality about certain historical events. And so your question is crucial, it points to the importance of The Voice in the Closet in my work. Q: If you look back at what took place around The Voice as a change, would you say that the change was the result of a conscious effort? FEDERMAN: Yes a very conscious effort to go beyond what I had done before, not only in terms of style but also of subject matter. It seems to me that before you can call yourself a writer you must write a lot of stuff, all of it being a kind of preparation for the day when you 102