In The Guardian they have Ian McEwan: when faith in fiction falters -- and how it is restored (also sold to and made available at The New Republic, where it's more succinctly titled: When I Stop Believing in Fiction).
The comparison to religious belief makes me uneasy -- fiction and the fiction that is religion are two entirely different things, as is 'belief' in them -- and I'm always amazed that anyone (much less a fiction-writer) could harbor the slightest doubt about the primacy and validity of fiction, but it's good to see that, after toying a bit with his readers, McEwan does acknowledge it as "the one true faith".
The comparison to religious belief makes me uneasy -- fiction and the fiction that is religion are two entirely different things, as is 'belief' in them -- and I'm always amazed that anyone (much less a fiction-writer) could harbor the slightest doubt about the primacy and validity of fiction, but it's good to see that, after toying a bit with his readers, McEwan does acknowledge it as "the one true faith".