The lovely Diana Spechler, author of Who by Fire--a book I heartily recommend--agreed to a short Q-and-A session with Bookstorm. Go easy on me, kids: it's my first author interview.
Q. Bits travels to Israel to bring her brother back to the United States for a family funeral. But her prejudice seems to mirror a common American misconception about Israel, that it's a country wracked daily by suicide bombings. When you travelled to Israel, were you surprised that terrorism in Israel isn't as prevalent as the media (perhaps unintentionally) implies?
A. I don't think that spending time in Israel made me more skeptical of the media. There is violence in Israel; no one can deny that. But if I once pictured Israel as a war zone, spending six months there showed me that it's also just a place where people live. Kids go to school. Adults go to work. People shop in grocery stores, take public buses, smoke cigarettes on the sidewalks, talk on their cell phones, and eat in restaurants. They're living normal lives. But of course, why would we hear about that in the news? It's not really newsworthy.
Q. In Who by Fire, you write that the conflict between Arabs and Israelis didn't start in 1948, when Israel was founded--that it dates back thousands of years, to Abraham. Can you elaborate for us? Do most Americans have an oversimplified portrait of the conflict?
A. The Old Testament says that God promised the land of Israel to Abraham's descendants. Whether or not one considers 1948 the first year that Israel was a "Jewish state" depends on whether or not one believes in the Old Testament. In my novel, Ash is a very religious Jew, and he believes that to live in Israel is the Jews' divine right. Other characters in the novel, on the other hand, probably wouldn't consider Ash's claim, "We can't deny what's written," a strong argument for Israel's right to exist; they would be more likely to cite the U.N.'s vote in 1948.
Q. Let's talk about one of your favorite authors for a moment--J. D. Salinger. You cite him as an influence on your work, and you name Holden Caulfield as your favorite literary hero. What is it about Salinger and Holden that's been so instrumental for you?
A. When you're a kid, you're being forced to read all this stuff that's impossible to relate to--[D. H. Lawrence's] Sons and Lovers, for example, and Huck Finn. What sixteen-year-old girl is going to relate to Huck Finn? So when I discovered The Catcher in the Rye, I was blown away. I felt like I was in the head of this teenager, and he was so cool, and he was so real, and he thought about real things the way a real teenager would. Simultaneously, I recognized that this wasn't Sweet Valley High; it was beautiful writing. I kind of had a crush on Holden Caulfield. I haven't re-read The Catcher in the Rye in years, but I have such a soft spot for it. I remember thinking when I read it, "This is the kind of writer I want to be."
Q. And finally, with Nobel season upon us, I have to ask: who do you think should win?
A. I know there's some buzz about Philip Roth taking the prize this year, and I would love to see that happen. Goodbye Columbus is one of my favorite books. I love a lot of Philip Roth's work, and even when I read one of his novels and don't love it, I recognize how important and impressive it is. He manages to deal with political issues without preaching and without compromising himself as an artist. He's one of the greats.
Very nicely done, Brandon! And thanks to Diana Spechler too, very interesting interview. Is this going to be a new feature?
Posted by: Citizen Reader | October 08, 2008 at 10:37 AM
Glad you enjeyod it. It’s a very important novel that broke a lot of barriers in its time. Please come back and tell us what you think when you’re finished. —
Posted by: peter | February 08, 2012 at 03:14 AM