Suite101 recently talked to Alan DeNiro about some of the inspirations, ideas and notions that led to writing Total Oblivion, More Or Less.
Have you always wanted to write fiction?
Absolutely. From a very early age. I was writing stories of various sorts since I was in first or second grade, usually involving grand adventures in far-off locales. When I was in college, I switched pretty much completely over to poetry, and thought that was the full-time path. Shortly after getting my MFA, however, I switched back to fiction writing, and have been in that realm ever since (though I still write poetry; it's more of a secondary pursuit now).
Can you tell us a little about the inspirations behind Total Oblivion, More Or Less?
Sure – there were a lot of various things that went into it. First was a speculation about what would happen if a modern American family, with all of its ordinary dysfunctions, were suddenly thrust into a chaotic situation of societal upheaval.
The idea of "oblivion" was another major theme I wanted to start out with as well - that people would be in a haze while these invasions took place. Obviously this is on a much exaggerated scale in the book than in "real life", but I do think that many Americans in particular are oblivious to the world around them. Just in terms of knowing geography, basic knowledge about the world, and so on.
Just to give an example: on a survey of geographical illiteracy: "63 percent of Americans aged 18 to 24 failed to correctly locate Iraq on a map of the Middle East. Seventy percent could not find Iran or Israel." Keep in mind this is during the Iraq War! The major inspiration, though, was Macy's voice - once I began, I was pretty much following her lead with her observations.
A dysfunctional family functions, more or less, at the core of the novel. Is this dysfunctionality something you are familiar with?
It's a good point – and I would say that while there isn't too much of my direct experience in this novel, those feelings growing up as an adolescent are something that everyone goes through. Especially if you are introverted and feel like you "don't fit in." I certainly fell within that camp! And so as a teenager it was difficult for me to express my emotions and could add to a sense of isolation, even with a caring, loving family (which I did have).
What interested me in the novel is how the overt, political stresses impinged on what could be considered the classic American nuclear family. And how those assumptions on what makes a family "tick" are built, at least on some part, on modern creature comforts and a kind of insularity. You see this also, as a kind of weird parallel to Macy's family, with Lydia and her family. I think even though Lydia is far more extroverted on the outside, she's also much lonelier, in the end, than Macy is.
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Lynne Jamneck - Lynne Jamneck lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Short listed for the Sir Julius Vogel and Lambda Awards, she has published short fiction in ...
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