Joseph O’Neill interview

Over the last week the Elegant Variation blog has been running a four part interview with Joseph O’Neill, author of the groundbreaking novel, Netherland – which was published last year by Fourth Estate.

In the interview, O’Neill reveals some intriguing things about himself and his writing. He also touches on hanging out with cricket players rather than other writers, and the insular nature of contemporary American writing.On the process of creating Netherland, O’Neill says:

I think I start with one idea. In Netherland, it was cricket in New York. Then there is an accumulation of sentences, and often just single words. Words that interest me. And I sort of build it up like a poem. Then you see what you’ve got, what patterns have emerged, and you see what meaning has been generated by your notes. As opposed to starting off with some theory of everything and trying to cram it into a book.

TEV: So, then there is a moment that occurs where you suddenly begin to feel like you are getting your hands around it?

Joseph O’Neill: Yeah, and then you start thinking about your characters. In other words there is this pre-psychological, pre-characterological impulse, which has to do with language. In the case of Netherland, as I’ve said, I was very concerned with voice. I wanted to create this very intimate relationship between the reader and the voice of the book. Almost a romance. That’s risky, of course. Not everybody likes to be hit on. But you want to take risks.

Check out the full interview in four parts here.