Ben Okri on Manipulating Reality
Editor’s Note: Read Ben Okri’s new short story “The Third Law of Magic.”
“The Third Law of Magic” is a new story by Ben Okri. To mark the story’s publication in The Atlantic, Okri and Katherine Hu, an assistant editor for the magazine, discussed the story over email. Their conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
Katherine Hu: In your short story “The Third Law of Magic,” an artist sells snowballs at a market. We get a clear view into his motivations for the show, which take on a philosophical weight as they accrue. When do you choose to focus on your character’s thoughts instead of their actions?
Ben Okri: Part of the story’s tension is precisely in the contrast between the character’s exteriority and interiority. You think you see one kind of person, but when his inner world is expressed, that limited perception explodes.
Interiority is most powerful when it moves with the dynamics of
