Lavie Tidhar
Answers Part I
(Posted: 2012/09/22)
Answers Part II
(Posted: 2012/10/02)
Answers Part III
(Posted: 2012/10/08)
Q-1.
What country/ethnicity/culture do you identify yourself with?
A-1.
That’s a tough one isn’t it! I suppose I primarily still identify as an Israeli writer, in that my concerns and my material comes from growing up primarily in Israel, and secondly as a Jewish writer with the particular obsessions that come with it――in my case, particularly, the Holocaust. But I have these dual/triple identities, partly South African, partly British, partly, you know, from living in a lot of different places and taking――consciously and unconsciously――bits from all of them.
Q-2.
SF/F/Horror/Slipstream genre has always been dominated by Anglo-American language. Is Anglo-American genre fiction is your major influence?
A-2.
I suppose it’s a major influence not only by reacting to it but in reacting against it, if that makes sense. I am constantly aware of Anglophone SF but at the same time trying very hard to write from outside its idioms, its assumptions, its defaults. In truth, my twin influences are SF and crime fiction, and I find the non-Anglophone modes of crime, in particular, very liberating. Genre is formula, and I think it’s helpful to be aware of the formula even as you try to subvert it.
Q-3.
Give us the ratio of your reading of Anglo-American fiction against your own or non-English literature. Currently.
A-3.
You do ask some tricky questions! As the editor of the Apex Book of World SF series (2 current volumes, and I hope to do a third), I’ve obviously been reading a lot of short stories from outside the Anglo-American sphere. I recently read an interesting Israeli novel――alternate history――and my favourite writer working in the field today is a Hebrew novelist, Shimon Adaf, who I think is absolutely incredible――his first novel in an English translation might be out next year, which I’m very excited about. This year I’m making a conscious effort to catch up with Anglo-American SF/F, which I’ve been away for a while, so ironically that is the bulk of my reading this year. If you asked me this last year you’d have had a different answer!
Q-4.
To our dismay, a lot of so called World things are actually American ones. From Baseball's World series to our genre's Worldcon (almost) or World Fantasy Awards. How can we correct it to its real structure, into the real chaotic world?
A-4.
It is very annoying. I am actually nominated for the World Fantasy Award this year, for Best Novel (I think one of the very, very few times they ever had a non-Anglophone as a nominee) but I still find the name of it irritating. I don’t see them changing it any time soon though... Charles Tan and I have been talking of starting the World SF Award, at various times, but neither of us has the time! There’s a need to redress Americanism, I think, from a non-Anglophone perspective, and I think the World SF Blog does contribute to doing just that, and fostering dialogue between different non-Anglophone communities. Progress is being made, but it will take some time!
Q-5.
Yet, it's true that we're culturally much influenced by American pop culture. Haruki Murakami cannot write like he does now without his American literature and Jazz influence. Is it the same for your case? Can you imagine you write without that influence at all?
A-5.
No, of course not. I think to be a writer you need to read widely, no one writes in a vacuum. But I have to write my own thing, not try to imitate a foreign culture, no matter how many movies they release into the world...
Q-6.
But these days a lot of young writers and editors work in English language and for American market. Do you hold any grudge against working like this? Or is it a natural reaction to that influence?
A-6.
I think it’s an inevitable product of wanting to reach a wider audience. I love Hebrew (and I love Bislama, the South Pacific “pidgin” spoken in Vanuatu, in the South Pacific, which I also speak) but English allows me to play against the “big boys”. I did write in Hebrew――a poetry collection, a novel, some short stories――but the returns――financially, critically――are so low that it must always be done purely for the love. One of the things I try to do is help other writers get published in English, which simply opens a lot of doors, including to be translated, in turn, into other languages.
Q-7.
If and when you have to write in English, do you do that to English-American readers, or to the global readers?
A-7.
I write for me. I certainly don’t try to please, which can be a problem, but also a benefit. My novel Osama is up for a number of awards this year, but it was also rejected by――at least――25 publishers, partly because it isn’t a compromise, it doesn’t try to please an imagined audience.
Q-8.
Is there any works or writers from your local scene you can sincerely recommend to the world readers? And why do you recommend them? Is it because they have no equivalent works or writers in Anglo-American scene? Or is it because they perfectly fit there and have many things in common that we should share? Which do you think is important, originality, or affinity?
A-8.
Well, I mentioned Shimon Adaf, who is simply a wonderful writer――check out Sunburnt Faces coming out in an English translation next year from PS Publishing. My sometimes co-writer, Nir Yaniv, is very interesting――he mostly works in the short-story form and a collection of his is just about to come out in e-book from Infinity Plus Books. Also check out my friend Guy Hasson, who has a collection of three novellas, Secret Thoughts, out in the US.
They are very different writers――Guy is the most traditional SF writer, perhaps, while Shimon is the most strongly Israeli writer, the most rooted in the Hebrew tradition, while Nir is more of a fabulist, with a strong undercurrent of humour running through his stories. You can see the different influences in their work――American genre SF, yes, but also Eastern European absurdism, and early Hebrew writers and Biblical writing, which is something I think influences all of us. So all very different, but very interesting writers!
Q-9.
Have you ever read and liked any Japanese works, in and out of our genre? What aspect of it attracted you?
A-9.
Well, obviously, we most recently published a Tow Ubukata novella at the World SF Blog. But apart from that, my most recent read was a bunch of Japanese crime novels which I really liked――like I said, I’m heavily influenced by non-Anglophone crime, which is less about formula or who the killer is and more about asking some big questions about life, about art, which I find very liberating. I am not well read in Japanese SF, I must confess――and it’s something I need to redress.
Q-10.
Could you please explain what you do to promote foreign literature to your readers or your own works to foreign readers?
A-10.
Well, I run the World SF Blog (http://worldsf.wordpress.com) and I edited The Apex Book of World SF 1 and 2. I am hoping to edit a third volume if I can! I also started the World SF Travel Fund to help young writers outside of the Anglo-American world to travel to a major industry convention (World Fantasy Convention)――we flew Charles Tan last year, we’re supporting a couple of Swedish writers this year, and next year we’re hoping to bring two new candidates to the WFC taking place in the UK. I do what I can...
