Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2009)
OREGON S GAY/LESBIAN/BI/TRANS NEWSMAGAZINE Bridge Over Troubled Waters British Author's Latest Rooks the Boat, and Perhaps Her Audience by Amanda Schurr Ten years, four books, and one Friday eve ning dinner after making a name for herself as a bold, bawdy lesbian novelist, Sarah Waters is on the phone, all propriety and vedy vedy Brit ish. It’s mid-morning in Portland, where the London-based author will visit May 4 - one of only six U.S. dates during a promotional tour for her latest book, The Little Stranger (Riverhead Books, $26.95 hardcover). Gracious and with a delicate accent, Waters is deceptively soft-spoken. She knows where the conversation is going as she discusses the novel, an old-fashioned ghost tale set in post-WWII rural England. The Little Stranger marks a significant and perhaps polarizing de parture for the scribe behind seminal lesbian text Tipping the Velvet (1998) and its succes sors, Affinity (1999), Fingersmith (2002) and 0^(2006). ’ The hallmarks of her fiction are there: painterly, fluid prose; an eyewitness’ attention to period detail; intimate plays on social struc tures; a uniquely sensual, oft times startlingly erotic approach to gender and relationships. She even revisits the 1940s era of Watch, and the first-person narration of its prior three novels. But there’s something different about the character telling this story. He’s male. “I was conscious at the start, thinking, ‘Oh God, am I going to be able to carry this off? Can I make a male voice really true?’” Waters, who identifies as lesbian, admits. “I’ve never really had to inhabit a man in the way I had to with this novel.” Still, her fears faded once she began the process, likening the challenge to any other “imaginative leap” involved in creat ing a character. The plot concerns Dr. Faraday, a country doctor summoned to the dilapidated Ayres family manor, and his growing fascination with its inhabitants - earthly and otherwise. Among those roaming Hundreds Hall, a shell-shocked Royal Air Force vet, an ailing young maid, a spooked matriarch, and Caro line, the level-headed heroine - what Waters describes as Strangers main character, despite its male narrator. The book is a Dickensian look at class - her most deliberate yet, an evolution of mo tifs broached in Waters’ Victorian melodra mas and continued in Watch's mid-twentieth -century portrait. It’s also a moody, creeping page turner, with echoes of Edgar Allan Poe. For the author, the supernatural realm was a IT’S MY CROCHET PLEASURE Doubletree Hotel Portland May 15-17 Fri & Sat 10-6 Sun 10-3 Admiss: $10, $5 ea add’l day (Park: $12 - give Show name) ’ J**--*aprs» GIFTS OF ROMANCE FOR WOMEN AND ALL WHO LOVE THEM 3106 NE 64lh Avenue, Porlland 503 280 8080 “Were still very much at the point where we hove to moke a fuss about it. We need our rights... but once you've got them. yeah, it'd be great if sexuality was not an issue, lt d be fab." SARAH WATERS “I think haunted house stories reveal a lot about the culture that’s produced them. They’re very often about people who are trapped,” Waters says, citing Charlotte Per kins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” as an example of how the gothic genre has been used to illuminate the female experience throughout history. The Wales native turned to fiction while researching her dissertation in gay and lesbian literature. “We really only have fragments about women’s lives, but then, as a novelist, I can flesh out the gaps a bit, have fun with them. That for me is at the root of writing,” continues Waters, whose debut, Tipping the Velvet, was a bodice-ripping, girl-on-girl yarn. A New York Times Notable Book, it garnered her a devout lesbian fanbase; subsequent works landed her the Sunday Times Young Writer Award and on the shortlist for the prestigious Orange Prize and Man Booker Prize. Waters concedes her anxiety that this lat est tome, in the absence of any major gay and lesbian characters, may alienate readers. “I do understand that disappointment, because we don’t see ourselves represented,” she says. “We want to hang onto our authors and our film makers, our artists.... I know that, but I want to let my books develop by themselves. And with this novel, there wasn’t anything calcu lated about me not having a lesbian element.” The author acknowledges that she’s done as “much as anybody to label” her writing lesbian, assuring audiences she will return to the subject. As for now, she’s warming to the idea of a contemporary novel. “I used to say, ‘I couldn’t imagine it,’” Waters says. “I’m end lessly fascinated by the past, the fact that you don’t have to go that far back, [only] 60 years to the ‘40s and things were quite radically different for men, and women... Just trying to capture that is a real thrill.” Still, “Ive found myself becoming in terested in trying out new things,” she adds. “History is ongoing. We’re living in a state of flux, and in another 60 years, we’ll be...” Wa ters trails off. Talk turns to marriage-equality stateside, and civil partnerships across what she calls the “very very gay-friendly” pond, and the possibility that one day, labels won’t matter, for couples - and for novelists. “I guess that’s what we’re all working for, really, isn’t it?” she observes. “We’re still very much at the point where we have to make a fuss about it. We need our rights... but once you’ve got them, yeah, it’d be great if sexuality was not an issue. It’d be fab.” Waters will he at Powell's Books, 1005 W. Burnside, at 7:30 p. m. Monday, May 4. For a complete transcript of the interview, visit blog- out.justout.com. On the corner ol Sandy Blvd & 64’ Want to try Acupuncture? Anita Pace and Harriet Carpenter Murrayhill VETERINARY HOSPITAL Now's the time! Shopping, Classes, Fun! Five Element Acupuncture, Facial Rejuvenation, Pain Management, Colds & Flus, Stress See vendors & classes online www.Knitand CrochetShow.com i natural progression, and a liberating new way of exploring the themes that earned her both « critical and commercial success. "We have dogs and cats of various ages and special neec^s. Having a veterinary facility with several exceptional vets is important to us. Getting the treatment for one of our "kids" is even more convenient. Our appointments are never rushed and always thorough. We have the highest regard for all the staff at Murrayhill Veterinary Hospital and appreciate all they do for our pets and for us." Dragon's I Dream Complete Physical & Dental Exam ACUPUNCTURE 13765 NW Cornell Rd STE f 50 Portland, OR 97229 503 568 4508 by appointment only Y- <5 Jonathan J. Dailey, L.Ac. • ♦ . ... » ' ... I • • « .A-/- « i - Call now to schedule. 14831 SW Teal Blvd. www.dragonsdreamacupuncture.com ? On Your First Visit! '■ r «e < •» 4. 41 JI BEAVERTON 503.579.3300 www.murrayhillvethospital.com
