The Doppler effect

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I ran a pretty famous café. It was not just a café – but also a place where concerts were played, writers came to visit, and stand-up artists performed. At times, we dominated the culture pages of the local newspaper. This is often the case when you operate in a small town and manage to attract established artists from the big cities. The requirement for entertainment is the same whether you live in a small village or in a large city. The only difference is that while in big cities you see a lot; in small towns you hear a lot.

The café gave this small town a little taste of the outside world. In fact, the place was so famous that one of the country’s foremost writers told the following story; He had received an invitation from us and laughed a little at the fact that a small café in a small town far away actually had the audacity to invite him. He usually said no to 99 out of 100 inquiries. He mentioned it to his publishing editor almost as a joke in the passing. The editor did not laugh but said in a serious voice; “If you have been invited there – then you accept!”

There were often late nights with a lot of red wine and good discussions when well-known authors came to visit. And I heard both about how lonely and monotonous the profession could be, but also a lot about technique and research. One came up with the following doctrine: “If you hear something you think is a good phrase – write it down before you forget it. If you forget who said it, then it´s yours.”

Many stories were told, and many glasses of red wine consumed among the evening’s friends who might never see each other again. One told of the time he spent in Africa as an “accompanying husband”. In fact, it was in his passport. His wife was a diplomat at the embassy, and he felt like a dog on a leash. When he signed the book, he had written whilst there, he wrote; “This is the most enigmatic book I have ever written, but I do not regret it.”

On one occasion, a well-known author and I sat down to discuss various projects. I told him about a short story I had written, and he seemed genuinely interested when I explained the plot. I had probably expected some kind of feedback on the idea, the plot and the angle – but nothing came of it. No compliments, no suggestions, and no criticism. I was probably a little disappointed, because I had felt a little recognition and pride discussing my projects with a famous author as if we were equals.

I did not think much more about the episode until the author’s new book came out a few months later. There it was! The whole plot, the angle, and the slightly weird twists I had put in. It turned out artists were exactly as Pablo Picasso put it; «Bad artists copy. Good artists steal».