In an email interview, the National Book Award-winning author of “Hell of a Book” celebrated “Lord of the Flies” and a graphic novel called “Monsters.” SCOTT HELLER
Describe your ideal reading experience.
At home on the couch somewhere around 6 or 7 in the evening. Dead of winter. We don’t get much snow where I live, so I’ll settle for a light rain. Just a quiet, soft, chilly winter’s day.
What books are on your night stand?
“Catch-22” and the collected edition of Alan Moore’s “Swamp Thing” run for DC Comics.
What book has had the greatest impact on you?
Either “Lord of the Flies” or “Grendel.”
What’s the last great book you read?
“A Different Drummer,” by William Melvin Kelley. It’s the story of a fictional county in the South in which all of its Black residents suddenly pick up and leave without any explanation. Its tone and technique could easily be defined as magical realism and, obviously, given the themes of “People Like Us,” it was both encouraging and saddening to realize just how long this style of fiction has been used to explore the idea of leaving a land that perpetually tells you that you are not equally a part of its being or destiny.
What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet?
Nearly anything written in the last five or 10 years. I won’t say I’m embarrassed about it, but it makes talking shop with other writers and readers pretty tough sometimes.
Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel as if you were supposed to like, and didn’t?
Cormac McCarthy’s last two books. I’m a huge McCarthy fan. Many critics swooned over “The Passenger” and “Stella Maris.” I pretty much hated them.
What do you read when you’re working on a book?
I reread old, familiar, well-written books. They give me an unreachable benchmark to reach for without contaminating my own voice.
Do you write to music?
Not in a long time. Generally, I write to the background noise of whatever movies I’ve already seen a hundred times.
What has been the biggest challenge of starting to teach at this point in your career?
Writing has always been, and will always be, the thing I prioritize over everything else. So I’ve had to learn to make room for teaching.
A writer much like you is on a European book tour in “People Like Us.” Share the best story from your own.
Every writer has that one author that means the world to them. That author whose work they simply love and who made them want to become a writer. You never actually get to meet them, though. Then, one day, you’re an author of your own and, when you’re publishing something, in many ways you’re just casting it out into the void. You rarely get to meet readers and even more rarely do you meet someone that your book had a really powerful impact on. Well, I got to meet that person in Paris. It was pretty special and I’m grateful for whatever threads of fate allowed for it to happen.
Which genres do you especially enjoy reading? And which do you avoid?
I guess my favorite genre is magical realism or “high concept” or whatever they’re calling it these days. Books with a big premise. I also read a fair amount of philosophy. I tend to avoid horror. I’m a wimp when it comes to reading horror.
Do you think any canonical books are widely misunderstood?
I won’t say “Lord of the Flies” is misunderstood, but I will say it is relegated to “simpler” reading because so many people remember reading it in high school and, subsequently, they think of it as a book for teens. But it’s not. In my opinion, it’s one of the most complex studies of human nature and the tendencies of societal forces ever written.
You’re a big Nicolas Cage fan. What role in a literary adaptation would you love to see him play?
An adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” with him playing The Judge.
What’s your favorite book no one else has heard of?
Can I give you two? “The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break,” by Steven Sherrill, and “Monsters,” by Barry Windsor-Smith. I came across the first in college. It’s a story about the Minotaur from Greek mythology living and working at a roadside restaurant in the modern South. It’s heartbreaking and beautiful and magical all at once. “Monsters” is a graphic novel written and drawn by Windsor-Smith, the living artist I admire most. I’ve followed his art, stories and career for decades and “Monsters” is his magnum opus. I hope I get to meet him someday.
If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?
I’ll keep it civil and say “The Nicomachean Ethics,” by Aristotle.
You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?
Alan Moore, Hunter S. Thompson and Marcus Aurelius.
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