BookBlast Interview with Ian Holding, author
Ian Holding, where were you born, and where did you grow up?
I was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, and have lived here all my life.
What sorts of books were in your family home?
As a family, we belonged to a small municipal library up the road, and every second Saturday, religiously, we would go to the library and browse books, make selections. I think this is where my love of books and reading was fostered, really. At home, I always remember there being a great deal of Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl, and Gerald Durrell, amongst others; some would have been library books, some we owned (or were perhaps “former” library books!). Plus, there was this whole other unreachable top shelf of alluring paperbacks I suspected at the time were not intended for the eyes of a young, inquisitive boy. When I was finally old enough to reach that shelf, its contents were actually, on the face of it, quite disappointing. Except there was a copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, but I was such a pathetic loser as a kid I could never seem to find the bits that made it so notorious!
Who were early formative influences as a writer?
As far as I am conscious of it, I would have to say P.G. Wodehouse and Gerald Durrell as a boy. I was completely drawn to that wonderfully exaggerated British sense of humour, depictions of lives from a bygone age which, nonetheless, when I was growing up, still seemed to have a residual echo in my own childhood way of looking at life; the sensibilities of people around me. They always seemed rather quaint and innocent and, in Durrell, the ability to mix that with those languid, vivid passages describing the physicality and beauty of nature. Then a massive influence on me as an adolescent and young adult (and in fact to this day!) was Evelyn Waugh – that same sense of comedy, yet now underscored by the savage, the satirical, the devastatingly ironic, the bleakness of fate.
Do you write every day?
I wish. At best, I would say I am an intermittent writer, only really snatching a couple of weeks here and there during the year when on holiday from my teaching job.
Do you do many drafts?
Yes, several. Often, the first draft and the final copy bear only a passing resemblance to one another. I like to get things down quickly, deal with the sudden, stark reality that it’s awful and that I’m a terrible, really phony writer, and then slowly start to see what I can salvage from the wreck when my confidence gradually returns. Writing is very much a struggle against the self, or at least it seems that way to me whenever I engage with it. What Happened to Us went through at least ten complete rewrites, but each one I genuinely believe to be an improvement on the last.
As an author, what are you most proud (or embarrassed) of writing?
All three of my novels are very different, independent fictions in their own right; I’m rather proud of the way I crafted each of them given that when I approach a new novel, I find I’m interested or drawn to trying to find new ways to achieve the same overall sense of narrative “completeness” or “what works.” I guess I like to experiment with style to the degree that, perhaps even, this is my style! When I was at school, I once wrote a terribly pompous play which was loosely based on The Playboy of the Western World – it was awful in every regard, with truly cringe-inducing dialogue and the most pedestrian plot imaginable! But, actually, writing for the stage – properly – has always been an incredible attraction to me. I’ve always felt that I have had some of my most fully immersive and transcendent moments with great writing for the theatre.
Your views on success?
Of course, success is welcomed, but I’m not obsessed by the measure of success in terms of commercial considerations. Perhaps I used to be when I was younger and starting out, but my perspectives have changed. To me, being successful as a writer is having the privilege of being published, especially the gift of having your words reproduced into a beautiful, lasting physical object of an actual book, of having someone else believing in your work, and finally in being able to ultimately share the product of my writing with a sincere readership, of whatever size.
What are you working on now?
I’m playing with an idea for a wicked satire on the state of affairs in Zimbabwe over the past few years. I’ve always wanted to try to write a broader narrative, many characters, many scenarios, bizarre and unbelievable, except that in this case, most of it would be true! The older I get, the more I feel I also want to write comedy of that wry, savage kind I grew up idolizing in those perfect novels of Evelyn Waugh.
Your views on book publishing?
I am more or less entirely removed from the industry here in Zimbabwe, but I imagine publishing on all levels is going through a pretty tough time right now. There seems to be a reluctance from mainstream publishers to invest in challenging writing these days. However, there is a vibrancy amongst small independent publishers who have taken over the mantle of acquiring really unique and interesting voices.
Your favorite literary journals?
I can’t say I really have the time to peruse that many, but I do love the interviews with writers in The Paris Review archive.
Your views on how new technology has (or has not) changed your writing life? Your views on social media?
I have always written on a laptop as it’s quicker and more efficient, but I wish I had the discipline to write longhand. I absolutely hate all social media. It started as a platform of free speech and expression but has turned into a space of puritanical censorship.
Do you enjoy reading e-books?
I can’t get into a book if it’s not a physical object. I know that sounds precious, but I’ve tried and just can’t seem to make the connection needed to sustain a feeling of investment when it’s digital.
If you could go anywhere in time for one day, where would you go and why?
Somewhere along the Mediterranean, one of those idyllic little Italian coastal towns, before they were overrun by tourists.
Who are the five people, living or dead, you’d invite to a party?
Schubert, Harold Pinter, Martha Argerich, Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria, Susan Sontag.
Your favourite prose authors?
Waugh, Dickens, Hemingway, Camus, Kafka, Steinbeck, Virginia Woolf, Henry Green, Leonard Michaels. Among contemporary writers: McEwan, Coetzee, Hollinghurst, Banville, Barnes, Enright, Levy, Ondaatje, McCarthy, Ishiguro. But I think Michel Houellebecq, Damon Galgut, and Elena Ferrante are truly unique and unquestionably brilliant.
Your heroes in fiction? And in real life?
In fiction, Don Juan. In real life, Roger Federer – the ultimate modern hero.
What other authors are you friends with? How do they help you become a better writer?
I’m friends with several, but we seldom discuss work. Writing is necessarily solitary.
Your five favourite films?
The English Patient, Dr. Strangelove, No Country For Old Men, Being Julia, The Remains of the Day.
Your chief characteristic?
I love animals probably more than humans!
Your chief fault?
I love animals probably more than humans!
Your bedside reading?
Currently, The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst.
Your motto?
“Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable” – Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus.
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