Q&A with Kate De Goldi
We recently had the opportunity to meet Kate De Goldi while she was visiting Auckland and touring local bookshops. Thanks so much Kate for taking a few minutes to answer some questions about your fantastic new book, Eddy, Eddy. Here goes:
Q: Eddy, Eddy is set in Christchurch after the earthquakes - were you in Christchurch at this time? If you were, how did this influence your writing? Otherwise, how did you research this aspect of the story?
A: I was in Christchurch for the September 2010 and June 2011 earthquakes (though not the February one). I had at least some sense – particularly from the September quake, which was thoroughly frightening – of the turbulence and the eerie and confusing aftermath. And I had detailed reports from family and friends’ experiences of the February earthquake. I spent extended periods in Christchurch in the three years following the major quakes (my parents were declining in health) so have strong memories of the city in that dreary and difficult time, and the vicissitudes that many people were enduring.
Q: Eddy is an orphan who has an unusual, I want to say almost ‘romantic’ upbringing. I understand this story, in particular the character of Eddy, was influenced by Charles Dickens. Is this true?
A: Yes, the structure and style and themes of A Christmas Carol by Dickens are a ‘ghostly’ presence in Eddy, Eddy – as well as being explicit in the last couple of chapters. That story was a potent presence in my childhood – both the book and a dramatic (and truncated) adaptation of the story on an LP that our mother bought for us. My sisters and I ritually listened to that record every year as we decorated the Christmas tree and could quote large chunks.
Eddy, Eddy borrows the idea of being visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future – the device Dickens used to show Ebenezer Scrooge’s personal reckoning and propulsion to change. I didn’t want to map my story directly on Dickens’s but there are chimings and connections throughout the book: references to Christchurch’s Victorian colonisation and built history; the presence of a child who has a profound effect on the heart of the main character; an occasional echo of – and tribute to – Dickens dense and colourful lexicon and syntax; and of course the rituals of Christmas – the traditions of which were largely laid down in Victorian England (courtesy of Prince Albert who imported much Christmas ritual from his German background) and lovingly revelled in by Dickens in his influential story.
Additionally – Eddy is an orphan, a recurring figure in Victorian literature (including literature for children), and Dickens’s books. I think too – this has only lately occurred to me – that Dickens’s penchant for quietly lunatic characters, slightly larger-than-life portraits, and celebrations of individual eccentricities has been a subconscious influence throughout my writing life.
Q: What and/or who inspired you to write this story? Can you remember where you were and what you were doing when the first seeds of this story sprouted?
A: I can remember exactly where I was when the story took off.
The earthquakes and upheaval in Christchurch had a profound effect on me. I lived there until I was 37 and in some ways – though I love Wellington – have missed it ever since. It was the place of important childhood and early adult experiences and the geography flora and built environment took deep root in me. All my books are set there – kind of helplessly! Inevitably, the earthquakes changed my relationship with this (often imagined) landscape and there was much about the consequences of the earthquakes that I wanted to explore.
I had been mulling over a character for some time – a young man dealing with a turbulent recent past. And I knew eventually that he would be navigating post-quake Christchurch (rich symbolic territory) and wishing desperately to leave home. But the story really began one day when a friend I was staying with in Auckland told me he was taking his friend’s constipated parrot to the vet. This struck me as very funny (not sure why!) and within minutes my young man’s world took palpable shape: he would be a pet minder, walking and driving around broken Christchurch, and – importantly – meeting the humans who came along with the pets…and somehow both animals and humans would facilitate his reconciliation with aspects of his past. The interesting bit was finding out how.
Q: Eddy, Eddy made me cry. What is the first book that made you cry?
A: Anne of Green Gables which I read when I was about eight. I cried when Matthew died. I re-read the book every five or so years and have the same response to that passage every time.
Q: What was the hardest scene in Eddy, Eddy to write?
A: This is interesting to think about. I think the answer must be the scenes I fiddled with so often, rewrote and rearranged and got exasperated by. They were i) the scene where Eddy first meets Delphine. I wanted Delphine to seem a little unusual but not at all cute – the difficulty was mostly in getting her dialogue right. Not sure that I quite succeeded. ii) The scene where Eddy and (no spoilers?) his friend are in bed and Eddy is desperately avoiding a subject long overdue for discussion between them. Again, the dialogue was ticklish, and their physical arrangement one with the other – and somehow achieving/showing her irritation and his ducking and diving without laying it on with a trowel. The jury’s probably out on that bit too…At some point you have to stop fiddling.
Q: Apart from answering repetitive and annoying Q & A’s, what is the most difficult part of being a fiction writer, particularly in New Zealand? Conversely, what is the aspect of writing you love the most?
A: I like answering these questions – always learn something I didn’t quite know!
The most difficult part, for me at any rate, is the translation of the original idea from my head – where it feels transcendently brilliant – to the page – where it is demonstrably something rather less than that. On the other hand, most often the idea seizes me anyway, so I keep going, keen to see how it will work out. That exploratory aspect of writing is rather wonderful.
More practically – it’s unlikely in NZ that one will make a living from writing fiction or poetry, even if your books sell in an international market. On the other hand, I like to do things other than writing, too – teaching and publishing (under the Annual Ink imprint), for instance. I like to work with other people and be out in the world at least some of the time, so I look for or dream up other projects that will enable this while also providing some income.
But there is nothing like beginning a story…the thrill, anxiety, fascination, knowledge of the difficulties to come and the deep satisfactions… Quite often I’ve been enabled this by writing grants from Creative New Zealand – something to be very grateful for.
Eddy, Eddy, by Kate De Goldi is out now. If you’re quick into the shop you may be lucky enough to receive one of our signed copies!
