Plume Libre - De éclectisme sans élitisme

In general, where do you find inspiration ?
I find inspiration in the art that had the greatest effect on me, especially in my youth. Namely, the films of Leone, Peckinpah, Kubrick ; the books of Albert Camus, Raymond Chandler, John Steinbeck, the music of Marin Marais, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits.

In your novels, you explore human’s violence and its consequences. What captivates you about it ? Do you think it is a reflect of our today’s society ?
Violence is a constant possibility in human life and always will be, so art is obliged to examine it. I am not sure why violence captivates and excites me so much because i know how ugly it is. The allure seems to be a deep, instinctive, primitive force, a powerful force that needs to be controlled but I believe that exploring violence through art is a means of control.

To return to Jung, if the shadow is repressed or unexamined, it becomes sick and the risk that it will explode increases. The violence of the first half of the 20th century exploded, in part, out of a mass repression of the shadow, something which can always happen again. I believe that if a culture gives voice to its shadow – to its hidden, dark, shameful and dangerous impulses – that creates a more healthy culture. Today’s western society is much less violent – at least at home, though not abroad – than it used to be, but I think that is in part due to a greater freedom of expression. Freedom of expression is the most precious asset of our societies and it is Under threat, especially in Britain.

Your characters get out of the chaos by surpassing themselves through love or mysticism. Are they the only ways to free men of violence ?
I believe in the redemptive power of love, in its many different forms, and that is a constant theme in my work. I also find something exhilarating and liberating in the notion of chaos. From chaos comes a renewal of values, an affirmation of what is worthy. No country has gone through that cycle more regularly than France, which is one reason why I feel a great affinity for French culture. I also find comfort in mysticism, though by definition it is a feeling that defies rationalization.

The only ways to free men of violence ? No, I think freedom, social and economic justice, education free men from violence, but litterature is entitled to approach these matters in a poetic form.

In « Green River Rising », you denounced prison damages on prisoners but also on the outside world. A few years later after writing this novel, what is your view of the today’s prison world.
Every single negative trend described in Green River has become worse since I first wrote it, in both American and British prisons (I can’t speak for the French system). There is more stupidity, more disease, more violence, more crowding, and, most alarming of all, there are even more men in prison, When I wrote the book there were 1 million men in US prisons. Now there are 3 millions. This is a shocking failure.

So in many ways the book was prophetic, especially in its allegorical vision of a ‘panoptic’ society. Britain, in particular, is now a long way down the road of panopticism : the queen’s subjects (it is important to remember that we are not officially ‘citizens’) are constantly scurtinized by a variety of different methods. Time will tell if this leads to revolt.

« « The religion » is a drama and novelistic book. Its construction reminds us Nineteenth century’s writers, and its visual power, contemporary films. What were your inspirations for the writing of this novel ?
The novels of Conrad, Dickens, Cormac McCarthy ; the Iliad of Homer ; the plays of Shakespeare and Marlowe ; the movies of Leone, Visconti and Peckinpah ; the art and life of Caravaggio ; and the music of Marin Marais was incredibly important to this novel.

Why this change of genre compared to your earlier novels ?
I wanted to tell a story set against the bloodbath of the Great Siege of Malta. I did not think too much about changing the genre, it seemed very natural. I don’t feel confined by a single genre, any more than a film director does. The principles of drama and character are the same.

How long have you work on the inquiries documentation for « The religion » and its preparation before the writing phase.
Research is the easy part, because it already exists. The difficult chalenge is to bring into existence characters and story, and a world, that do not exist. I thought about The Religion for several years – while making films – before I decided to write it. Unfortunatley, I feel I have little control over the writing impulse. I don’t know how to switch it on, therefore I often suffer from ‘writer’s block’.

« The religion » is about a religion conflict that takes place in 1565, but we can make a kind of parallel with our time. How did you manage to avoid comparisons and criticism with this delicate subject ?
I was determined to make every element – every moment – in the story true only to the characters and their world. The truth of the novel is the only priority. I feel that if there are any parallels to be drawn, the reader can do so for himself, without the author pointing them out to him.

Matthias Tanhauser is a very charismatic and complex character. How was he born ? How did you find your inspiration to create him ?
My first vision of him was very simple : he was eating a breakfast of blood sausage and red wine in a violent waterfront tavern. His character evolved from there. I knew that, to quote Raymond Chandler, he had to be ‘ man fit for adventure, otherwise [his journey] would be no adventure at all.’ I knew that his origins would be steeped in violence and loss. I sensed that he would be a man without a country or a tribe. Because the age that he lived in was rich in polarities and paradoxes, I knew that he would embody many contradictions. As the story developed, many more sides to his character were drawn out than I could possibly have imagined. But that is the hallmark of a great character in a great story. In the end, Tannhauser was inspired into being by the story and the world in which he lives.

« The religion » is the first volume of a trilogy. What about the writing of the next volumes ? Could you tell us some information about the sequel ?
The next adventure of Tannhauser is set in another incredibly rich, complex and contradictory milieu : the city of Paris, in the dark days of late August 1572. If you know – or discover - what happened there at that time, your appetite will be whetted.

Are you a « big » reader ? What are your favorite authors, books ?
I am an avid reader but I am hard to please. I am a perfectionist, which is why my own novels take a long time to write. I read a great deal of non-fiction because, ironically, the events of history and the real world are very often more dramatic and fascinating than those depicted by novelists, which seems to me a great failing on their part. Authors are often inconsistent ; and it is very difficult, almost impossible, to write more than one masterpiece.

But here are the five novels that I most often re-read, again and again, with pleasure and awe: « Blood Meridian » by Cormac McCarthy ; « Riddley Walker » by Russell Hoban ; « The Leopard » by Lampedusa ; « White Jazz » by James Ellroy ; « Lonesome Dove » by Larry McMurtry.

What would you like to tell to those who still do not read your novels ? By which one do you recommend them to start ?
My novels are not for everyone, but I promise that each one is special and unlike any other. Each one is a journey into deepest Hell in search of rédemption. For thrills try « Green River » for an epic beauty try « La Religion »