Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.04.2019, Blaðsíða 27

The Terror of the
Metaphysical
Iain Reid represents his niche at the Reykjavík
International Literary Festival
Words: Björn Halldórsson Photo: Lucas Tingle
Over the past few years, Canadian
author Iain Reid has seen rising
success after the publication of
his first novel, “I’m Thinking of
Ending Things.” Dubbed a “phil-
osophical thriller,” the hit debut
is currently being adapted into a
Netflix film by famed writer-di-
rector Charlie Kaufman. Iain, who
incidentally is the brother of Ice-
land’s first lady, Eliza Reid, is one
of the dozens of authors attend-
ing this year’s Reykjavík Interna-
tional Literary Festival at the end
of April.
Writing as self-
discovery
With two previous publications in
the field of memoir, Iain says that
his first novel felt more person-
al than his earlier work. “In ‘I’m
Thinking of Ending Things’ I was
looking at ideas and concepts that
I found unsettling in my own life,”
he explains. “I’ve always found the
metaphysical to be far more un-
settling than most horror, and if
I’m truly unsettled by something
it keeps me engaged and makes
the writing come out naturally. If
I try to create that feeling out of
nothing, I can’t maintain it.”
Fuel l ing the w riting w ith
doubt and uncertainty makes
for a rather meandering creative
process, Iain admits, and says
that he actually does little plan-
ning before sitting down to write
a book. “I’ll have maybe a setting
and few images in place, along
with some question that I’ve been
obsessing over. Then I just start
writing, feeding off these differ-
ent elements. As I get further in,
the writing gains momentum and
I have to write more and more in
order to understand the question
better, learn more about the story
and the characters.”
The absence of genre
Despite its metaphysical elements,
“I’m thinking of Ending Things”
also has the familiar structure of
a suspense novel and can be read
as such, while his latest book,
“Foe,” applies elements of science-
fiction to its world-building. Even
so, Iain says that he pays little
heed to ideas of genre and doesn’t
care what labels get attached to
his work.
“In bookstores, my books end
up in the thriller section as well
as the ‘literary fiction’ section,”
he points out, applying jaunty
air quotes to the latter term. “I’m
fine with that. If you choose not to
think about such things, you can’t
be upset if someone pins a certain
genre on your work.” He laughs.
“Anyway, I know my books can be
a bit of a headache when it comes
to marketing them to readers. I’m
forever thankful that there are
people out there who take care of
that end of the equation. I’d like to
apologise to anybody who has ever
had the job of finding the right
‘niche’ for one my books.”
Between Two
Linguistic Worlds
Yoko Tawada fluidly moves between Japanese and German to
enlarge her vision
Words: Phil Uwe Widiger Photo: Christel Steinberger / CC
Yoko Tawada is an internationally success-
ful author that fascinates with the diversity
of her words and the use of both Japanese
and German languages. She has written
stories, novels, poems, plays, essays and
has received notable literary awards, such
as the Akutagawa Prize, the Goethe Medal,
and a National Book Award. Even though
she first employed a translator for the Ger-
man versions of her books, Yoko later start-
ed to write separate manuscripts herself in
both German and Japanese—a process that
she calls “continuous translation.”
The beauty of exophony
Exophony is a term recently introduced into
the literary field of studies describing writ-
ing in a language that is not one’s native
tongue. Yoko’s native language is Japanese
and she writes simultaneously in German.
However, she cites Russian as her favourite
European language. “But I do not want to
live in Russia,” she clarifies. “The anger en-
dangers the health.”
For Yoko, speaking and creatively using
two languages from different systems helps
her to be open-minded. “The important
thing is that I have two different languages
that are not related to each other,” she ex-
plains. “That makes my field of vision big-
ger.”
Understanding of human
civilization
Yoko began writing when she was only 12
years old, drawing inspiration from travels
and even from mundane everyday things
such as a supermarket. “With the help of
literature, one can look at human civiliza-
tion from the outside and understand it in a
unique way,” she explains. The most impor-
tant thing for the author to be able to write
is to be offline. She emphasizes the impor-
tance of world peace when asked to give a
message to future generations.
A nuclear disaster
Yoko’s most recent novel, “The Last Chil-
dren of Tokyo” (UK) or “The Emissary” (US),
earned the author a National Book Award,
and was written after Yoko visited the Fu-
kushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant fol-
lowing the nuclear disaster and talked to
the residents of the surrounding area. “The
novel plays in a fictive present that looks
like the future,” she explains. “That was
something new for me.”
Another book of hers, “Memoirs of a Po-
lar Bear,” has now been published in Ice-
landic as “Etýður í snjó.” It is a collection of
three short stories about talented writers
and performers —who also happen to be
polar bears.
Yoko is looking forward to visiting Ice-
land for the first time. “Civilizations based
on cold climates interest me a lot. People
who know long winters are reading more,”
she says. “And I will never be as close to po-
lar bears as when I am in Iceland.”
“With the help
of literature,
one can look at
human civilization
from the
outside.”
“I’ve always
found the
metaphysi-
cal to be far
more unset-
tling than
most horror.”