The
following Author Q&A, from the winter of 2004,appears on the Barnes & Noble website.
On the Barnes & Noble website,you can also LISTEN to an additional interview.
Barnes & Noble: What was the book that most influenced your life or your career as a writer?
David Liss: I would prefer to weasel out of the question by talking about how all of the books I've read in aggregate, the great, the not so great, and even the horrible, have taught me what works, what doesn't work and why.
But if I absolutely had to pick something, I would give honors to The History of Sexuality, Volume One by Michel Foucault and -- admittedly, it's not a book -- the essay "Ideology and the Ideological State Apparatus" by Louis Althusser. The Foucault, despite its racy title, is less about sex or even a history of sexuality, than a clearly articulated argument about the circulation of social discourse and how ideologies are perpetuated and dissent crushed. He takes the shaping of sexual identity in the Victorian period as a case study to show how our most basic, fundamental and unexamined ideas about not only social institutions (as he had previously done with the hospital, the mental institution and the prison), but also our own natures, are subject to dominant and oppressive ideologies. His exposition on the idea of how cultural discourse is "intentional but nonsubjective" is, alone, worth the price of admission.
Althusser's equally, if more brazenly, Marxist argument details how ideology replicates itself and how cultures produce the means of ideological reproduction. I seriously doubt a day goes by that I don't interpret some either current or historical phenomena through the aperture of Foucault and/or Althusser. As a historical novelist, I'm not only interested in what happened, but why, and how people responded, reacted and were interpolated within historical events and cultural developments. Certainly there has been an anti-Foucault backlash in recent years, and no one outside of the academy reads Althusser much anymore, but both of these writers are, I think, the most significant starting point for applying philosophical (not political) Marxism in our post-capitalist world.
B&N: What are your ten favorite books, and what makes them special to you?
DL: I officially change the question to name ten books you like a lot and come to mind at this moment. There are far more books I love than I can easily name, and I hate having to rank some and leave out others. Here's a sampling from a bunch of different fields I enjoy:
B&N: What are some of your favorite films, and what makes them unforgettable to you?
I hate having to pick a favorite, as I've said before, but I do have a soft spot for the anti-capitalist screeds of Frank Capra, especially Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. And no matter how many times I've seen it, I will always sit down for another viewing of The Caine Mutiny. Finally, and I don't know if these count as favorites, but I have burned into my brain movies that were on cable all the time when I was growing up, especially Stripes and Excalibur. The ability to recite the Charm of Making has become something of a shibboleth to people in my age group.
B&N: What types of music do you like? Is there any particular kind you like to listen to when you're writing?
DL: I listen to different kinds of music for different activities. When I'm running, I tend to go for more fast paced and electronic stuff. I don't generally listen to music while working, but sometimes music can help me get past minor writer's block. I tend to go for things with interesting arrangements but that also have a pleasing monotony that can reward, if not necessarily demand, a great deal of attention: Radiohead, the Thievery Corporation, and Stereolab, for example. The most dependable music for me to listen while writing, however, is the great Nigerian Afropop icon, Fela Kuti. And I should probably mention Billy Bragg, since I dig his socialist agenda.
B&N: If you had a book club, what would it be reading?
DL: I do, in fact, have a book club. I meet with a couple of guys once a month of a lunchtime discussion of some interesting text, usually but not always philosophical. The Feminine and the Sacred by Catherine Clement and Julia Kristeva is next up.
B&N: What are your favorite kinds of books to give -- and get -- as gifts?
DL: I like to give books that I feel will open people's minds to new ideas and issues. I love being given books that expose me to new and interesting things I hadn't previously considered.
B&N: Do you have any special writing rituals? For example, what do you have on your desk when you're writing?
DL: What I have on my desk is a great big mess. I don't really have any rituals except I write best in the morning, I have to shower and get dressed first (none of this writing-in-my-PJs stuff for me), and I often consume massive quantities of coffee.
B&N: What are you working on now?
DL: Two things: I am finishing up the final edits for my next book, The Thoughtful Assassin, my first non-historical novel. It is set in Florida during the 1980s and it was an absolute blast to write. I'm also working on the next novel to feature Benjamin Weaver. It's also been fun to work on. I play with the formula a little in this one -- it's more of a thriller and less of a mystery -- and it centers around the origins of the modern corporation.
B&N: Many writers are hardly "overnight success" stories. How long did it take for you to get where you are today? Any rejection-slip horror stories or inspirational anecdotes?
DL: I wrote my first book while I was still in graduate school, and I organized my time along the semester system: I worked on the dissertation during semesters and the novel during breaks. The book took me two winter breaks and a summer break, though by the end of the second winter break I was almost but not quite done, so I basically threw over the dissertation entirely and dedicated my time to finishing A Conspiracy of Paper. I had my fair share of rejection, including people telling me that I would never, ever, get the book published, but I fortunately ended up with an amazing agent and a genuinely talented editor. I've been very lucky.
B&N: If you could choose one new writer to be "discovered," who would it be?
DL: One of my favorite writers about to break through is Mark Haskell Smith. His first novel, Moist, is twisted and hilarious, and his second novel, Delicious, which will be published later this year (and of which I've been lucky enough to read an advanced copy) is even more twisted and more hilarious.
B&N: What tips or advice do you have for writers still looking to be discovered?
DL: I'm a firm believer that the key to writing a good novel is mastering your critical thinking skills. Read constantly, and then think about what you read, talk about what you read and write about what you read. Every time you read something and you are enjoying it, ask yourself why. What is working? What is holding your interest so well? When you are bored or losing interest, ask yourself why as well. A skilled writer never turns off his critical reading skills.
