Vladimir Nabokov

From Nabokov's 1964 interview with Playboy:

With the American publication of Lolita in 1958, your fame and fortune mushroomed almost overnight from high repute among the literary cognoscenti-- which you bad enjoyed for more than 30 years-- to both acclaim and abuse as the world-renowned author of a sensational bestseller. In the aftermath of this cause celebre, do you ever regret having written Lolita?

On the contrary, I shudder retrospectively when I recall that there was a moment, in 1950, and again in 1951, when I was on the point of burning Humbert Humbert's little black diary. No, I shall never regret Lolita. She was like the composition of a beautiful puzzle-- its composition and its solution at the same time, since one is a mirror view of the other, depending on the way you look. Of course she completely eclipsed my other works-- at least those I wrote in English: The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Bend Sinister, my short stories, my book of recollections; but I cannot grudge her this. There is a queer, tender charm about that mythical nymphet.

Though many readers and reviewers would disagree that her charm is tender, few would deny that it is queer-- so much so that when director Stanley Kubrick proposed his plan to make a movie of Lolita, you were quoted as saying, "Of course they'll have to change the plot. Perhaps they will make Lolita a dwarfess. Or they will make her 16 and Humbert 26. " Though you finally wrote the screenplay yourself, several reviewers took the film to task for watering down the central relationship. Were you satisfied with the final product?
I thought the movie was absolutely...[read on]

Lolita appears among Henry Sutton's top ten unreliable narrators, Adam Leith Gollner's top ten fruit scenes in literature, Laura Hird's literary top 10 list, Monica Ali's ten favorite books, Laura Lippman's 5 most important books, Mohsin Hamid's 10 favorite books, and Dani Shapiro's 10 favorite books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Allegra Goodman

Allegra Goodman's novels include Intuition and Kaaterskill Falls. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and Best American Short Stories. She is a winner of the Whiting Writer's Award and a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

Her new novel is The Cookbook Collector.

From her Powell's Q & A:

Describe your latest book.

The Cookbook Collector is a novel about two sisters: pragmatic Emily, the CEO of a successful Silicon Valley start-up, and romantic Jess, who works for an antiquarian bookseller named George. Set during the dot-com boom and bust, the book is about hunger: for money, for material things, for food, for fame, for knowledge, for companionship, for love.

Which fictional character would you like to date, and why?

I have a few ideas, with some requirements for each character. I'd like to date Mr. Darcy, if he'd take yoga. Mr. Rochester, if he'd get a divorce, install smoke alarms, and read Cold Comfort Farm. Lydgate, if he'd leave Rosalind and apply for a tenure track job.

Describe the best breakfast of your life.

Croissants with butter and jam in a small hotel in Paris on a trip there with...[read on]

Visit Allegra Goodman's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Mike Lawson

Mike Lawson writes the popular and much-lauded Joe DeMarco series of thrillers. The latest installment, House Justice, involves DeMarco in the fallout of the death of a CIA spy in Iran.

From Lawson's Q & A with Julia Buckley:

Your book, HOUSE JUSTICE, was hard to put down. It did not, however, do anything to reduce my already jaded attitude toward American politics. Are there really this many backroom deals and moral compromises in the halls of Congress and the CIA?

I’m not so sure about the CIA – they tend to get a bad rap because we only hear about the mistakes they make and not all the good things they do. And basically the CIA is implementing policy set by the Executive Branch. Congress is a different story. I’m not making up how corrupt Congress is and can be. It seems about once a week we hear about some congressman taking a bribe, diddling somebody of the same or opposite sex, sending pork to aid rich folk more than ordinary folk, etc. Like I said in House Justice, there’s a reason companies pay lobbyists so much money and hire so many of them and, cynical as it sounds, I sometimes think we have the best government money can buy. And I’m not sparing either party.

Good. Your hero, Joe DeMarco, is refreshingly different, because he is NOT the guy with a gun. He is a lawyer, and while he can defend himself, his job is not always to storm in and get the bad guys. How did you happen to create DeMarco?

I wanted a protagonist that somebody else didn’t have. There are already too many good detectives, lawyers, ex-special forces operatives, etc. in fiction. I wanted a) someone different and b) someone connected to D.C.– and thus DeMarco, a guy who works for a shady Speaker of the House. And most of the time in the books, DeMarco...[read on]

Learn more about the author and his work at Mike Lawson's website.

Lawson's previous Joe DeMarco thrillers include The Inside Ring, The Second Perimeter, and House Rules.

The Page 69 Test: House Rules.

--Marshal Zeringue

Neil Gaiman

Christian Halsted interviewed the award-winning author Neil Gaiman for the Financial Times.

Part of their Q & A:

What book changed your life?

Reading the Narnia books, aged about seven, was the first time that I was aware that a book was written by an author. Realising that a real person was standing there telling you stuff was the point when I knew I wanted to be a writer.

* * *
Who are your literary influences?

I believe anybody you read before the age of 16 will end up being your literary influences, good or bad. I loved Edwardian novelists; Kipling was a huge influence. Lou Reed and David Bowie were huge influences too, but I never realised until I’d grown up.

* * *
What book do you wish you’d written?

I’m extremely envious of Gene Wolfe’s four-volume The Book of the New Sun.

Read the complete interview.

--Marshal Zeringue

Rebecca Cantrell

Kelli Stanley interviewed Rebecca Cantrell about her new novel, A Night of Long Knives.

Part of their Q & A:

A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES takes place a few years after your award-winning debut novel (and first of the Hannah Vogel series), A TRACE OF SMOKE, and, like all the Hannah Vogel series, deals with the tragic and very real history of Nazi Germany. Tell us a little about this background - what was the "Night of Long Knives"?

The Night of the Long Knives was a Nazi purge that took place in 1934. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they immediately destroyed all other political parties, removed all state governments, wiped out labor unions, drove Jews out of public and professional life, stifled the courts, and put political, economic, cultural, and social life under their control. But Hitler still did not have the full backing of the Army. The German army, because of the Treaty of Versailles, was limited to one hundred thousand men. The Storm Troopers, under Hitler's close friend Ernst Röhm, had four million. When Röhm suggested moving the army under his control, the generals were worried. They made a deal with Hitler: if he would kill his best friend and the top ranks of the Storm Troopers, they would back him. At the same time, Himmler created a fake dossier accusing Röhm of plotting to take over the government. In response, Hitler started the purge known as "The Night of the Long Knives" killing Ernst Röhm, the upper echelon of the Storm Troopers, and a long list of other personal and political enemies. The true body count has never been determined, but at the Nuremberg trials after the war estimates ranged up to one thousand.

So how far into the future do you see Hannah venturing? How many more books? And since you're skipping years between novels, will there be prequels?

I can see Hannah books at least into the 1950s. I currently envision nine books: a trilogy before the war, during the war, and after. I've written the pre-war books: 1931's A TRACE OF SMOKE; 1934's A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES coming out in late June 2010; and 1936's A GAME OF LIES due out in June 2011.

Read the complete interview.

Learn more about the book and author at Rebecca Cantrell's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: A Trace of Smoke.

--Marshal Zeringue

Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens's new book is the memoir, Hitch 22.

From his Q & A with Alexandra Alter for the Wall Street Journal:

The Wall Street Journal: Why did you decide to write a memoir now?

Christopher Hitchens: It was reading about my own death and thinking, that dissolves the old question for me, "Isn't it a bit soon?" People my age and even younger have written books of reminiscences…I thought, of course it had to be done too soon, because it can't be done too late.

The memoir mainly focuses on other people who have had prominent roles in your life, or ideas that have shaped you. Why did you structure it this way?

I didn't want it to be an autobiography. I haven't overcome all my reticence. That's why I put in the "Something of Myself" chapter. I didn't think they'd want to read about my internal life and all my brave thoughts.

What is the most revealing thing you've included about yourself that people didn't know before?

Probably insecurity. I think I write in a fairly self-confident manner. I usually am pretty sure of what I want to say and what...[read on]

See--Christopher Hitchens' six best books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Christopher Ryan

Christopher Ryan is co-author (with Cacilda Jetha) of Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality.

From his Q & A with Thomas Rogers at the Barnes & Noble Review:

You paint a bleak picture of the state of marriage in the West, particularly in the United States. What makes it so bad?

Marriage in the West isn’t doing very well because it’s in direct confrontation with the evolved reality of our species. What we argue in the book is that the best way to increase marital stability, which in the modern world is an important part of social stability, is to develop a more tolerant and realistic understanding of human sexuality and how human sexuality is being distorted by our modern conception of marriage. Certainly growing up in the '70s and '80s there were very few kids I knew whose parents weren’t divorced at least once. The economic, emotional, psychological cost of fractured relationships is a major problem in American society — with single mothers and single-parent families.

You argue that much of this misery stems from changes that occurred when humans developed agriculture, around 8000 B.C. What happened?

The advent of agriculture changed everything about human society, from sexuality to politics to economics to health to diet to exercise patterns to work-versus-rest patterns. It introduced the notion of property into sexuality. Property wasn’t a very important consideration when people were living in small, foraging groups where most things were shared, including food, childcare, shelter and defense. It makes perfect sense that sexuality would also be shared — why wouldn’t it be when paternity wasn’t an issue?

When you have agriculture, men started to worry about whether or not certain children were theirs biologically, because...[read on]

Visit the official Sex at Dawn website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jostein Gaarder

Norwegian novelist Jostein Gaarder is best known for his third novel, Sophie’s World (1991), a philosophical tale told through the eyes of a teenage girl.

From his Q & A with Anna Metcalfe at the Financial Times:

Which literary character most resembles you?

Hans Castorp in Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain. He’s naive and wants to understand things. He’s not afraid of asking silly questions.

Who are your literary influences?

Jorge Luis Borges, Dostoevsky, Herman Hesse and the Norwegian author Knut Hamsun – not that I think I can write like these authors. I’m also inspired by books written for adults and children: AA Milne, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Dickens, and 19th-century Norwegian folk tales.

* * *
What book changed your life?

There are two: Lillelord [1955] by a Norwegian writer called Johan Borgen and Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, when I was 18. That book can make a boy a man.

Read the complete interview.

--Marshal Zeringue

Chevy Stevens

Chevy Stevens is the debut author of Still Missing (St. Martin’s Press, July 2010).

From her Q & A at The Thrill Begins:

Carla: Chevy, your story is about a realtor, Annie O’Sullivan, who is abducted and held for a year, as told in narration to her therapist once she’s freed. It’s a fascinating concept. How did you dream it up?

Chevy: When I was a Realtor, I spent hours at open houses reading books or scaring myself with horrible thoughts of what could happen to me. One of the most terrifying scenarios began with being abducted. That led to other thoughts like who would abduct me and what it would be like to try to fit back in your life after such a brutal experience. Was it even possible? The idea hovered in the back of my mind for a while, then one day I heard my main character’s voice telling her story to a “shrink.” I walked up to my office and just started writing. The basic structure and story line has never changed from that very first draft.

Carla: How long was it from that point until you felt it was ready for submission?

Chevy: Almost four years.

Carla: What made you stick with this particular story? Did you always want to be a writer?

Chevy: When I was a child growing up on a ranch I dreamed of being a writer and carried books around with me everywhere, usually with a cat under the other arm and a dog following behind. There were a few attempts at early novels, one featuring a detective mouse and another where a wife poisons her abusive husband—obviously I had an early tendency toward thrillers! I took writing in school, but I planned to be an artist. Then I started working in business and got sidetracked.

Shortly before the idea of Still Missing came to me, I’d stayed on a remote gulf island and...[read on]

--Marshal Zeringue

Sharyn McCrumb

From a Q & A with Sharyn McCrumb about her new novel, The Devil Amongst the Lawyers:

You did a ton of research for the book. How did you carry out that research? Did you have a particular event that happened during your research that struck you?

The first step in researching anything is to read background material. That way when you do have to question real people, you will have a basic understanding of the subject. I read accounts of the historical events mentioned in the novel. I visited the places where the book is set. I listened to the music and watched the films of that era to capture the mood, and I stayed in the Martha Washington Inn. I talked with people who had known the actual defendant in the trial on which "The Devil Amongst the Lawyers" is based, and with newspaper reporters who had covered southwest Virginia trials in that era.

The best adventure I had in researching the novel was the day that I spent in Wise County, with Wise County Tourism director H. William (Bill) Smith as my guide. We explored the Wise County courthouse, visited the old jail, explored every floor of the now-derelict Inn at Wise, and drove up Highway 23 to "The Pound" to see the place where the Maxwell house once stood. The current mayor of Pound is a cousin of Edith Maxwell, who was the model for Erma Morton, the young woman on trial in the novel. I took photographs of everything, so that I could describe it correctly. The room I gave to Henry Jernigan in the novel is on the top floor of the Inn, between the columns, and it has a fireplace and a large triangular window, just as described.

Part of the book is set in Japan. Have you been to Japan? What was the inspiration?

I have never been to Japan, although I wish someone would invite me. I reasoned that since I could not go to Japan in 1923, going there now wouldn't tell me much that I could not learn from reading travelers' accounts of Japan in that era. I read a number of books on early 20th century Japan, and I based Henry's roseate view of the country on the attitudes expressed by the Irish writer Lafcadio Hearn. Questions about language, customs, and folklore were answered for me by Ichiro and Yuka Wada of Osaka, and by Yoshihiro Iwai, who was a graduate student at Virginia Tech while I was researching the novel. I tried to learn some Japanese, but since I was a Spanish major, my accent is terrible. Listening to me trying to speak Japanese to a native speaker is a good game of Charades.

Are any characters in The Devil Amongst the Lawyers based on people you know?

Carl Jennings' background and education is based on...[read on]

Become a fan of Sharyn McCrumb on Facebook.

--Marshal Zeringue