Yann Martel

Last Thursday, Yann Martel came to De Groene Waterman to promote his new novel Beatrice and Virgil. He was interviewed by Dutch author Johan de Boose who did quite an appalling job: hadn’t thought his questions through, constantly missed Martel’s point and his English was questionable at best but Martel luckily, was entertaining, refreshing and very poignant.

He started off with how and when he became a writer which for a budding novelist like myself was very interesting and inspiring. He naturally talked a lot about Life of Pi for which he received the Booker Prize in 2002, a novel that basically everyone I know loves. I on the other hand, thought it was just ok. I didn’t hate it but a boy sharing a lifeboat with a tiger, topped off with a spiritual sauce of religion and philosophy didn’t exactly get me excited still, it wasn’t bad.

His new novel, Beatrice and Virgil, deals with 2 writers, the Holocaust (which he went on and on about), a donkey and a monkey. The man likes his animals. I’m a bit hesitant to read it to tell you the truth because I’m afraid that like Life of Pi, his allegories will get the best of me. Hearing him talk about it has left me intrigued and alarmed so we’ll see.

Now, his next novel will be set in Portugal and will star three chimpanzees but he isn’t quite sure about the details yet. When Johan de Boose finally asked him why it takes him so long to write his novels, a question that was both ignorant and disrespectful in my opinion, Martel talked about his extensive research, intricate writing process and a little side project he’s got going: What is Stephen Harper reading?

Stephen Harper is the Canadian Prime Minister (Martel lives in Canada by the way) and Martel seriously doubted this man’s capacity to rule a nation seeing as he admitted to not having read a book since high school because he has bigger fish to fry now. So what does Harper know about creativity? Art? Humanity? Scared that such an individual might lead them to their downfall, Martel has vowed to send Harper a book accompanied by a letter every two weeks “that has been known to expand stillness”. You can follow his quest, the books, letters and occasional responses on the website What is Stephen Harper Reading? A noble and whimsical endeavor indeed.