The Biblio Blogazine

First of all I would like to thank Brenda Ambrose, Client Manager of Terra Communications for allowing me access to the author in order to conduct this interview through email. I would also like to thank the author himself for taking time from his busy schedule to answer my questions.

If you have not read his novel, The Art of Racing In the Rain, I highly recommend it, for it is much more than it seems on the surface.

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Don’t let the sedateness of the photo fool you. This woman is anything but black and white and shades of gray.

Her personality is as I had hoped: Lively, colorful, intelligent, and with a sharp sense of humor that many would envy. For those of you who have read her debut novel, The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns, this same wit is easily recognizable in her main character.

At the end of the interview, I asked Elizabeth to sign my copy. In it she wrote: “Thanks so much for reading – Lucy would certainly enjoy your company.”

The feeling is mutual, toward Lucy and her creator.

To make a confession, Elizabeth and I had such a great time chatting between signings, that I never did get to ask her the questions I’d prepared. Thankfully, she was gracious enough to take a printed copy so she could respond by email.

Please don’t get the impression  we never talked about her book, or the process of writing and publishing it. We most certainly did. However, she is so personable from the outset, we found ourselves letting the conversation grow and change organically.

Let’s put it this way. This interview took place a number of weeks ago, yet I remember the experience clearly, warmly, and it still makes me smile. I look forward to Elizabeth’s future books. Soon. But no pressure, Zip. Really. [cough-cough]

I had put together a number of questions, but gave her the option of answering any or all. I hope you enjoy her answers as much as I do.

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Having a little…no a lot, of fun with this week’s Weekly Geeks.

We were asked “to pretend we were able to get in contact with one of our favorite characters and interview them” then blog about it.

There is only one author whose complete works sit on my shelf. Within them is a character that not only sticks out in my mind as one of the most enduring of all time, he has done so with nearly anyone on the planet who has come across him and the work in which he plays a prominent role.

So. Here goes…….

I decided to hold the interview outdoors as it is the first nice day we’ve had in Reno in weeks. As my guest settles himself, I notice him admiring the landscaping. Hoping to break the ice a bit, I begin the interview with a little small talk.

BIBLIO BRAT:
Hey, thanks for stopping by. I see you’ve noticed the new garden decor we’ve put in. Yes, it is anchored to the ground. You’re very observant aren’t you? Well, after last year’s fiasco with the plastic patio furniture and matching umbrella, we realized that going cheap was a bad idea.

We are so happy our neighbors are speaking to us again, although they must admit living downwind on a downhill slope makes them, their pool, and any living creature left exposed in their yard a prime target for flying debris.

But enough about my landscaping, we’re here today to talk about you. How exciting!

I’ve always wanted to meet you in the flesh…uh feathers, and here you are! So, let’s have at it, shall we?

Just recently, the world celebrated the bicentennial of the author who made you famous. How do you feel about that?

THE RAVEN:
Ahem. I would tactfully point out that it was I who put said author on the map. Oh, he wrote some brilliant stories that ended up as inspiration for other writers, music, TV, and film. But who can forget my appearance on The Simpsons? Now that is the true test of a cultural icon that survives the ages.

BB:
Actually, that show had a number of references to Poe throughout its Halloween specials.

But you feel then, that you are not so much identified with Poe as he is with you?

TR:
Let’s look at the facts. Up until this work was published, the man was a struggling nobody, barely making ends meet, many times not – having to rely on friends and family for financial assistance. We won’t even touch upon his propensity to spend more time with a Cognac bottle than his prose.

BB:
I’m not sure you’re being very fair here. That time in American history was hard on those like Poe seeking to live solely by writing. In fact, I think he was one of the first to attempt to do so. Without the protection of an international copyright law, many works from overseas were being reproduced in the U.S. to the detriment of American authors. As you may know, the poem made him instantly well known – but never rich.

Plus, there was the added stress of watching his young wife dying before his very eyes. He had lost his mother to the same disease. I’m sure it was heartbreaking.

TR:
You have a point. Poe did have a thing for loss and death as he had already been abandoned by his father and lost his mother while quite young.

I suppose then, I might not have been made such a prominent character in the poem, as my kind is said to symbolize death and ill omens, hence him calling me a “grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominus bird of yore” and a “thing of evil”.

BB:
In his essay, “The Philosophy of Composition”, Poe discusses how he deliberately attempted to compose “The Raven” as a work that would appeal to the public and critics. It appears that this is exactly what happened. In creating you, he said, you were meant to symbolize ‘mournful and never-ending remembrance’, and it worked.

Wouldn’t you say then, that as much as you helped popularize him at the time, you couldn’t have done so if he had not created you as such a powerful and enigmatic symbol? Shouldn’t you both deserve equal credit for a poem that has endured, and will endure for all time?

At this point in the interview, the Raven had severely ruffled his feathers in an attempt to shake off the question. After several minutes of careful preening, and hopes that I would forgo expecting a response, he regained his composure and continued.

TR:
I’d nearly forgotten about that damned essay. You know, there are some who argue it was at worst a satire, and at best a way to rationalize how he came to write “The Raven” rather than all his works.

BB:
Clearing throat…

Yes. I’d read that. You, uh, haven’t answered my question.

At this point I discovered that ravens can glare. Or perhaps his stare and persona were so strong, I was imagining it.

TR:
After that poem was published, the man earned the nickname, “The Raven”.

You don’t hear too many people seeing a few of us flying over head and call out, “Hey, there goes a murder of Poes” – do you?

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At this point, I figured I’d learned enough about one of my favorite characters from a writer I grew up admiring, my enduring fascination of gothic horror begun with reading The Tell-Tale Heart and The Pit and the Pendulum.

As my guest flew to his next appointment, I realized that even though he was nothing as I had expected, he remains as mysterious as he was when he arrived and he never did answer my question.

Or did he?

What do you think?

Can an author create a character in such a way, that even a century later the character stands out in your mind more than the one who created him or her – or it?