Essential Alan Moore interview about Jerusalem (and more)

Alan Moore. Photo by Dominic Wells.

Excerpts from the excellent interview conducted by Dominic Wells. You can read it HERE.

 

[1986]

Alan Moore: “It’s about time people stopped debating whether comics are art [...] and just get on with making good art.”

[2002]

Alan Moore: “This planet has a physical geography with which we have already familiarised ourselves [...] But since the dawn of the first stories, there is a fictional geography, where the gods and demons live. We have created this big imaginary planet that is a counterpart to our own; and in some cases these places are more familiar to us than the real ones.”

[afternoon of July 9, 2016]

Talking about Jerusalem.  

Alan Moore: “Nearly everything is historical fact. [...] I’d take all the angels and demons with a pinch of salt. A lot of it is actually 100 per cent materially true, but I think all of it is emotionally true. And also we are not just our bricks and mortar, we are not just our flesh and blood, we are not just our material components. Everything in our world has got an imaginary component. As individuals, we’re always telling people the legend of us. The same goes for our houses, our streets, our towns, our country – there is a huge imaginary component to human life and if in the interests of scientific realism you ignore that, you are not describing reality.”

Discussing V for Vendetta mask adopted by both the Occupy and Anonymous movements. 

Alan Moore: “I’m glad that they’ve got it, although – they didn’t get it from the comic, did they? They got it from the film, which I have never seen and which, from a position of complete ignorance, I am willing to describe as a total rat’s abortion. But I’m glad it’s been of use to these protestors, because generally I really admire what they do.”

[6pm, July 9, 2016]

Alan Moore: "[Jerusalem] is dedicated to Audrey. The whole book was an attempt… an attempt to rescue her? A particularly futile and belated attempt, but the best I could do. The only way that I could rescue her was in a fiction.”

The complete interview can be can read HERE.