An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England_ A Novel - Brock Clarke [136]
AN
ARSONISTS GUIDE
TO WRITERS HOMES
IN NEW ENGLAND
A Conversation with the Author
Reading Group Questions and Topics for Discussion
A CONVERSATION WITH THE AUTHOR
Sam Pulsifer: First, thank you for giving me the last name Pulsifer. I like the way it has the word fire in it, because there are fires in the book, of course, and also Lucifer, or, at least, Lusifer. Very clever.
Brock Clarke: Huh? I didn't intend that at all. It never occurred to me until you mentioned it.
SP: Why did you name me Pulsifer, then?
BC: Because I've only met two families with that last name, and they're both from New England.
SP: That's your reason? That's a terrible reason.
BC: I know, I know, it's pathetic.
SP: And you say I'm a bumbler.
BC: Let's move on, OK? Ask me something else.
SP: Where do you get your ideas?
BC: From all over. From other books, from overheard bits of conversation, from road signs, from friends, from enemies. But actually, those aren't ideas: they're material. I get my ideas from the same place everyone gets them: we have a library full of the things we care about, passionately-in the case of An Arsonist's Guide, I care passionately about books, about family, about New England ― and we borrow from the library, transform (or, to push the library metaphor too far, deface) what we've borrowed to fit the needs of our characters, our places, their stories, until that which we've borrowed looks and sounds and feels somewhat different than what we originally borrowed. And then we call that thing a book.
SP: Hey, I went on Amazon.com and read some of the reviews that readers have written about the book. A lot of them love it and say great things about you. Others, though, really, really hate it, but usually instead of attacking you, they say hateful things about me, about how I'm a loser and they can't "identify" with me. You were the writer here ― why are they attacking me, and why did you make it so people would hate me?
BC: It's funny. I don't think you're an unlikable character at all. Sure, you do some questionable things, but I think, I hope, you're entertaining while you're doing these questionable things. And some of them, after all, you do out of love, just as some of them you do out of fear, jealousy, self-interest. These are exactly the qualities I like in literary characters, and in people, too. I like characters and people not because they're good, but because they're complicated, because they're conflicted. No, I wouldn't say you're unlikable. I'm actually quite fond of you.
SP: I think you like my mother and father better than me.
BC: I like you all the same, Sam. I like you in different ways, for different reasons, but I don't like any one of you better than the others.
SP: Why did you put me in prison, then ... twice?
BC: It made sense, dramatically speaking. Plus, you had it coming. You seemed to realize that.
SP: My mom and dad have a pretty rough time of it in the story, yet both of them come across almost more sympathetically than I do ― and my dad cheated on my mom, which set all the bad stuff into motion, and then my mom caused the big problem at the end of the story. It's because of her I had to go to prison again. Do you think that all children have to suffer for their parents' sins, or is it just me?
BC: I don't think it's just you. I think all children, in some ways, bear the burdens of their parents' pasts, of the secrets their parents keep from them ― often for good reason. And in the same way, parents are constantly forced to watch ― sometimes mutely, sometimes not ― as their children do the same ridiculous, self-destructive things that they themselves have done. We ― parents and children ― are fortunate in this way. We make the same mistakes, and so it's difficult for any one of us to feel superior. This is why we end up loving our parents, and children, so much. If we're not allowed to feel superior to them, we might as well go ahead and love them.
SP: You say I'm not unlikable. But is it safe to say that I'm unreliable?
BC: That's safe to say, to a point.