Mark Sarvas

At Publishers Weekly, Willona M. Sloan interviewed author Mark Sarvas.

The preface and first two exchanges:

Mark Sarvas’s debut, Harry, Revised, tells the sordid, comedic tale of Harry Rent, a recent widower who seeks to remake himself as a modern day hero in the image of the Count of Monte Cristo as he courts a comely, young diner waitress. Sarvas is also the founder of the popular litblog, The Elegant Variation, and his literary criticism has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, the Three Penny Review and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

What’s up with the Count of Monte Cristo? Why did you choose that character to be a person for Harry to emulate?

It’s a real touchstone for me. A few years ago, I wrote a screenplay, in fact, that was a modern retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, so I think that’s always been in my head.

Did anything ever happen with the screenplay?

No, it almost got picked up at Universal. It got very close, but it didn’t go all the way. The other thing about The Count of Monte Cristo is that one of the themes in Harry is the theme of reinvention, and that’s such an obvious fit that it seemed too good to not follow.

Read the full Q & A.

--Marshal Zeringue