Lee’s Reviews > Expelled from Eden: A William T. Vollmann Reader > Status Update

“Great literature is as capable of making judgments as Philip Marlowe, believe me. Shakespeare’s Iago remains a very wicked man, and we easily see him as such. At the same time, he’s round enough to make us wonder what makes him the way he is, and even pity him. Some of you may believe that holding such an attitude about real-life evildoers comprises weakness. I am sure that it is not.”

‘Early the next morning I watched another doctor open up an old Filipino man who, sick and despondent, had hanged himself with an electric cord. The man’s stern, stubborn stare, his eyes glistening like black glass while the doctor, puffing, dictated case notes and slashed his guts gave me a nightmare that evening.’