Teddy Wayne

Teddy Wayne is the author of the novels Loner, The Love Song of Jonny Valentine, and Kapitoil. From the transcript of his interview with NPR's Scott Simon:

SIMON: You must have finished this novel last year.

WAYNE: I did, yes.

SIMON: But it's hard to read it and not think of the recent case of Brock Turner, the former Stanford student who got out of jail just a few days ago after serving just three months for felony sexual assault. What would you tell readers who try and make comparisons?

WAYNE: Well, the Brock Turners of the world are a different type of character from [my character] David. They're the alpha males. David's a decided beta male. But both are products of what's called frequently toxic masculinity, which is the ways that the patriarchy can be damaging to men, not just women. And that it trains them to be dominant, to be aggressors, to be violent, to not betray any vulnerability or sensitivity.

So both are flip sides of the same coin of toxic masculinity. David is additionally angry that he does not have the rewards that Brock Turner has. He's pushed to the side, whereas Brock Turner is a hailed athlete.

SIMON: Mr. Wayne, does David stay with you? I mean, I've been having nightmares, and the character didn't begin in my mind.

WAYNE: Yeah. At this point, I'm - I don't mean to make - to sound glib. I'm more concerned - I got married this summer and I'm more concerned at this point with people in my wife's family reading it who I've tried to dissuade from reading it. As for...[read on]

Visit Teddy Wayne's website.

The Page 69 Test: Kapitoil.

Writers Read: Teddy Wayne (September 2016).

--Marshal Zeringue