Interview: Neil Gaiman (english)

BRIGITTE.de: Most of your work has fantasy/horror elements in it. You're probably too aware of the condescending "if it's fantasy, it has no literary merit" attitude. Where do you think that comes from?

Neil Gaiman: I don't know because it isn't there in world literature. For me it's always Shakespeare. If you're gonna say "Shakespeare is literature", you're gonna have to allow your fairies and your asses' heads, and you're gonna have to allow your monsters and you're gonna have to allow your ghosts. You cannot have Shakespeare without your Macbeth and your Tempest and Stuff anymore than you can talk about world literature and exclude Faust. You know, as far as I'm concerned, anyone who says "World literature cannot have monsters, the devil and fantastic elements" just said "Goethe's Faust is not literature". Which is, as far as I'm concerned, a way of saying: "I am a very stupid person."

BRIGITTE.de: You've once said that you could tell if a horror story works or not, because successful ones cause the physical sensation of being scared. Can books still do that to you?

Neil Gaiman: Sure! What I said was: Horror is one of the three primal forms of literature, where you can actually tell if they work or not. They have a function. And they would be pornography, horror and humor. With pornography, if you're aroused, it works. With humor, if you laugh it works. And with horror I feel there should be creeping chills. Really good horror can still do that thing where the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and where I'm sort of prickling and where you realize you're breathing a little bit faster.

BRIGITTE.de: For instance?

Neil Gaiman: For instance...Stephen King can still do that to me, when he's good. Bag of Bones, he did it. I'm now reading a book of his called Under the Dome (Ed: King's new book which will be released in November). And there are plenty of places in there where I go: "You're doing it!" And I remember It, reading it at 3 o'clock in the morning at a friend's house and actually, suddenly realizing I'm scared. And it was a wonderful feeling to know you're a little bit scared, and you're scared in a safe way.

BRIGITTE.de: You have kids yourself - where do you draw the line, when it comes to what books are okay for them to read? Do you draw a line at all?

Neil Gaiman: No, I screwed up the other way! I did it completely wrong. My daughter Holly, when she was about 13 was a huge fan of R.L. Stine and those Goosebump-books. And I said: "You know, if you like R.L. Stine, you'll like Stephen King. Here's Carrie. What do you think of this?" And she read Carrie, and suddenly her reading completely changed. She went on to nice books, Little House on the Prairie. Things where happy people went out to carve things out of the American wilderness. So when her little sister, Maggie, dug out all of her Goosebump-books when she was 12, I said nothing. I just let her get on with reading.

BRIGITTE.de: Since you're so incredibly active online with your blog and twitter, have you ever thought of telling a story online in a way that wasn't possible elsewhere?

Neil Gaiman: If ever I came up with something that would only work online, I would do it. Which is not saying you can't do it and people have done it. What I want when people read my stuff in some ways is the opposite of the internet, the opposite of twitter. Because the internet is designed for a short attention span. The internet is absolutely perfect in a world where somebody can send you a link to an article, from which you find a link to a cool youtube video of somebody pushing a lemon up their nose, to go back to some other e-mail, to a really funny photo of a kitten being cute with a duck. And it doesn't demand concentration. It doesn't demand your attention. And when I am writing I demand your attention. I want you to pay attention. And I would much rather create a story in something like this (holds up book) where nothing is gonna pop up at you while you're reading it. Where there is quiet, and there is a page and there is text, and you get to do all the work in your head. I like that. I like the feeling that it's just you and me. And I want that.

BRIGITTE.de: So - what are your working on right now?

Neil Gaiman: I'm working on a mostly nonfiction book about China and myth. I'm working on two different short stories right now, one of which is a big strange historical story, partly set on the Isle of Sky, and one is a contemporary story about a man with an imaginary girlfriend. And when they are done, I will probably go back to work on the Anansi Boys screenplay which I meant to do. And an episode of a tv series that I wrote, which I need to revise. And I want to write a sequel to Odd and the Frost Giants, so...that's the next thing I'm getting on.

BRIGITTE.de: You've rececently directed a short, silent movie - are you tempted to direct a feature-length film?

Neil Gaiman: I was talking with the producer of the silent film about the idea of maybe doing a film based on some of my short stories. And getting a bunch of directors in to do one story each, and do it like the old Amicus films or things like Creepshow. And maybe do one of those. The truth is: I could absolutely give up two months of my life to doing it, but I can't give up 18 months of my life.