Ten Questions, with Gary Anderson

The second author in our series featuring Emmerson Street Press, Gary Anderson’s new book Animal Magnet takes the idea of a family saga novel and runs wild with it, drawing on a variety of forms, narratives and styles.

He talks to Open Book about Animal Magnet, writing those x-rated scenes and "the talking animals".

To read our previous interview with Emmerson Street author Arthur Bull click here. Stay tuned for more interviews from this innovative new publisher.

Open Book:

Tell us about your new book, Animal Magnet.

Gary Anderson:

Animal Magnet is a family saga that follows the illegitimate line of a tutor, Péter Montgolfier, and a lunatic scullery maid, Theresa Seyfert, in 18th century Hungary. Spanning centuries and continents, the story jumps generationally if erratically down the family tree, finally ending more than two centuries years later in a futuristic L.A. with controversial performance artist Vic Ray. Along the way, we meet a number of different family members: Ernst Seyfert, footman and fratricide; Georges d’Aubigne, suicidal playwright and républicain; Joseph Vasser, bigamist and author of the Bible II; and Jesus Ramos, the Dog-faced Boy; to name a few.

Having said this, I should add that Animal Magnet is an unusual family saga, in that, it is told from numerous and at times oblique perspectives, while using various literary (and some non-literary) forms and styles. Ultimately, I think the novel grapples with the notion of humanness, human identity and humanity.

OB:

You play with structure and form in lots of interesting ways in Animal Magnet. How did you approach form and language in this project?

GA:

Since a major theme of the novel is the human/animal dichotomy, and humans are considered to be “the talking animals,” I knew that I wanted language — and how it conveys meaning — to play an important role in the structure of the novel. I wanted to experiment, I suppose, with different forms and styles and see if/how they affect meaning. Also, as a reader, I’m someone who enjoys the juxtaposition of forms and styles and the natural reverberations that occur between them as a result.

OB:

What was the editorial process like for you while working on this book?

GA:

Like all writers, I have a system that works for me. I prefer to edit as I write, returning to sections again and again, while at the same time moving forward in the writing of the story. In a sense, it’s a clownish rendering of two steps forward, one step back. With Animal Magnet, I maintained this process. However, because the forms and styles of some of the chapters are quite disparate, I tended to work on them more as single units than as a part of the larger whole.

Of course, later, Vincent (Ponka) at Emmerson Street Press had some very helpful ideas and I returned to some of the individual chapters once more.

OB:

What was the most challenging part of writing this book?

GA:

I suppose the honest answer here would be actually doing what I had set out to do. I realize that may sound somewhat disingenuous, but I don’t intend it to beAnimal Magnet is an ambitious novel (so I’ve been told) and admittedly, I wasn’t entirely sure I was up to the task. I’m probably not alone in this. I think a lot of novelists wonder about what they’re finally going to hatch after sitting on a book for 12 or 16 or 24 months.

More specifically, though, it was a challenge to convey the overarching story using a number of unrelated narrative strands. I knew the story needed to be told, but I didn’t want the “plot” of the book to be central to the various narrative strands. So I had to come up with creative ways to stealthily, I guess, move the plot forward.

OB:

What are some other Canadian books in which form and style are manipulated in interesting ways? What titles would you recommend to a reader looking for something new and innovative?

GA:

I’ve been living as an expat for more than a decade, so unfortunately I’m not as attuned to the Canadian scene as I once was. I’m set to return soon, so I hope to remedy that situation. As far as manipulating form and style, Joyce has always been the exemplar for me. William Burroughs also had some interesting ideas concerning form and style.

OB:

Writing about sex is something that intimidates a lot of authors. What was the experience like for you?

GA:

I did give it some thought as I was writing Animal Magnet, which has some scenes that probably deserve a nod from the Literary Review and its Bad Sex in Fiction Award. However, in keeping with the novel’s theme of humanness and the human/animal dichotomy, I felt that the sex had to be there — up front and over-the-top. Because for me the question is this: Does having sex make us more human or more animal? Does spinning Barry White and turning the lights down low really make sex any different than copulating while hanging upside down from a tree in the middle of an Amazonian heat wave? I don’t know.

Another reason I didn’t shy away from writing the sex is that it’s a goldmine for satire. Ancients like Aristophanes knew this. French and English dramatists of the 17th and 18th century basically perfected the sexual satire. For me, the sex in Animal Magnet can’t be read straight — these scenes are satirical in nature, if not actual satire. I don’t think I could have written them any other way.

OB:

Describe your average writing day.

GA:

I’m an early riser, so I usually write for two to three hours every morning before work (I’m a development editor for an educational company). Some days I get more done that others, but I’m pretty strict about at least showing up for the game. I think all writers have to be quite disciplined in this way.

OB:

What is the best advice you’ve received as an author?

GA:

Don’t quit your day job. I think that’s pretty self-explanatory.

OB:

What were you reading while writing Animal Magnet? Do you have a process to selecting what you read while you’re working on a long project?

GA:

To be honest, I don’t recall exactly what I was reading. Anthony Burgess or maybe Saul Bellow. I always read, whether I’m writing or not. But I don’t really have any special way of selecting books. I’ll pick up anything that sounds intriguing to me.

OB:

What are you working on now?

GA:

I’m just finishing revisions on a novel which tells the story of Jacques the Anabaptist from Voltaire’s Candide. In some ways, it’s similar to Animal Magnet because it takes on big themes, like evil in a world created by a perfect God. Of course, Religion is fertile ground for satire and it has certainly been skewered before — splendidly by Voltaire, in fact. However, I’m hoping to add a fresh perspective and a bit of a twist to it.