Selbst in Buchbinderkreisen spricht man dieses Thema besser nicht an. Mitte der 1990er Jahre wollte der Sohn eines Gelsenkirchener Buchbinders einen Autor verklagen, weil dieser in einer ortsgeschichtlichen Darstellung behauptet hatte, dass dessen Vater in der NS-Zeit «echtes Niggerleder» verarbeitet habe. Der Streit kreiste darum, ob es sich dabei um Menschenhaut oder um in Afrika gegerbtes, recht haltbares, naturelles Ziegenleder mit natürlichen Narben (sogenanntes Nigerleder) handelte, wie es noch heute in der lederverarbeitenden Industrie verwendet wird.

[siehe auch: the late age of print > anthropodermic bibliopegy]

INTERVIEWER When did you know you wanted to write?

DIDION I wrote stories from the time I was a little girl, but I didn’t want to be a writer. I wanted to be an actress. I didn’t realize then that it’s the same impulse. It’s make-believe. It’s performance. The only difference being that a writer can do it all alone. I was struck a few years ago when a friend of ours—an actress—was having dinner here with us and a couple of other writers. It suddenly occurred to me that she was the only person in the room who couldn’t plan what she was going to do. She had to wait for someone to ask her, which is a strange way to live.

the paris review > joan didion: the art of fiction (interview 1978) [pdf]

[the paris review > interview archive]