It is the dilemma of many an aspiring writer. If you want to write books and keep food on the table, it’s best to keep the day job.
A character in Hadrien Laroche’s novel , which will be published in English by Dalkey Archive Press on October 27th, asked one question of the writers and artists he met: “Where does the money come from? . . . It seemed to him that a successful artist or thinker was one who had resolved this problem.”
“That’s it, exactly!” Laroche says. “I write books, but I’m not making a living out of it. So far, being a French civil servant is my solution.” He quotes Jean-Jacques Rousseau: “My job could feed me if my books did not sell, and that is what made them sell.”
