Literature Chick is proud to introduce Welsh author, John Evans, to our readers. Think Hunter Thompson meets Cormac McCarthy and you will immediately understand the works of this author. Find out more about John at www.johnevans.org.uk.

LC:   Your book, Giants, is a brutally honest tale of a man's return to a homeland in distress. Is the work autobiographical in nature?
JE:   It's not autobiographical as such, but there are basic elements which share similarities with my own life - like, returning to the South Wales Valleys after living away for some time etc. There are also characters based on people I either know, or have met here - Tanya being one example.
LC:   The language is incredibly visual and at times brutal, with seemingly no sense of hope. Is this your vision of the world at present, Wales?
JE:   When I was writing Giants, the South Wales Valleys were experiencing the full impact of moving to a post-industrial society. The atmosphere here was one of confusion, alienation, loss and despair. They were dark and brutal times, and naturally, it impacted on the people here. Communities and social groups fragmented, and among younger generations, drugs - particularly heroin - became a big problem. At times like these people move to the extremes, as they seek any way out, any escape from the horrors of everyday existence.Today, things have changed. In the main, people do adapt, and move on. The landscape has also been transformed. The menacing black coal
tips have been grassed over and planted with trees; the bleak council housing estates have been transformed with more financial investment; and the rusting machinery and other relics of industrialisation, have been replaced with wildlife trails, country parks, and heritage centres for tourists.
LC:   Your narrator seems caught and yet we don't really know what his back story is. Why this narrative?
JE:   I wanted the narrative to be "open", that people could read it and follow different narrative paths. The narrative is multi-layered,and in some ways the way that each person reads and interprets Giants will say something about that person. Who is the central character? Is he dead, or alive? Are events real, or is it an hallucination, dream, or nightmare? Is the story set in the past, present, or in the future? All of those questions equally could be all answered in the affirmative...or not. It can be an unsettling and disturbing book to read. And it's often difficult to chose a narrative path to follow without discovering you've reached a dead-end, and then need to go back to take a new path. Just as the main character is constantly on a voyage to explore his labyrinthian world, I wanted the reader share this experience by directly entering the mind of the central
character.
   I always believe that the form should directly reflect content. Too many times a writer has a great idea and a good story, but they dilute those things by not choosing a form that reflects and enhances the content.
LC:   You are also a filmmaker - do you feel you write visually?
JE:   Setting, and "sense of place", is importantto me, and so it is important to my writing. Every place has it's own history, it's own
present, and even future. There are many places in Wales where you can almost tangibly touch and feel those things. Giants is about many different things, but one of the main themes is how each place is alive with all it's own particular histories.
   Cinema and the visual arts are also a big influence on my writing. A filmmaker allows his images to speak for him. He has faith in the power of the image. A writer would do well to do likewise. Show Don't Tell, is one of those rules for writing which usually works.
LC:   What is your definition of post-modernist writing?
JE:   I think any good writer today should regard themselves as post-modernist. The language and romantic imagery of the Nineteenth Century is obviously not a style of writing that would reflect present times, nor would the heroic, make it new to create a better world, literature of the Modernists. A Postmodernist is aware of past literary endeavours, they embrace thestrengths and recognise the failings, and then move on to write a literature that reflects the present day and all those things we've learnt along the way.
LC:   Your influences?
JE:   My literary influences are many and varied. I like writers who try something different, who experiment with form and structure. I also like writers who know how to create that "sense of place".The Welshwriter and poet, John Cowper Powys; the French writers of the Nouveua Roman, and other great European novelists like Franz Kafka and Dostoevsky; Willliam Burroughs, and other American writers like Steinbeck, and in the present day, Cormac McCarthy; all these have influenced my my work
LC:   Would you consider yourself a political writer?
JE:   Again, I think any good writer is "political". Artists, fiilmmakers, and writers, all should bare witness to the place, society and times in which they live. And, if you think about it, today everything is political really: the choice of food and clothes you buy, newspapers you read, to how you vote, and if we kid ourselves and say none of those things really matter, that opting out is a political statement in itself. As for the world of politics, politicalparties and their various political philosophies, I've little faith in them. I've learnt that,largely, things stay the same no matter who gets in power or whatever party and political ideology they claim to serve.
LC:   You have edited a magazine called Kulture Vulture. Tell us about that.
JE:   Kulture Vulture was a new idea for a magazine in Wales. The contents were an unusual mix of politics, fashion, street culture, music, art, films, to features on current social issues, and all of these were written and presented in a very contemporary way. Our policy was also to give opportunities to new writers, designers, and photographer's so all the people involved in the magazine were involved with training and sharing their skills. I've always believed that it's important for artists and writers to try to put something back into the community in which they are based. The magazine was very successful. The new emerging Wales of the new millennium needed a magazine like that. It's a shame that I didn't have more time to continue with it, but some of those new people we involved went on to get good jobs with other magazines, so I'm proud of everything we achieved.
LC:   Difference between American writers and Welsh writers?
JE:   In the main Welsh writers are possibly more concerned with the land in which they live. It is very much a part of them, and who they are. The Welsh being a colonised country and people for hundreds of years, have had to struggle and fight (often quite literally), to retain their Celtic culture and identity, and as a result our land, nationhood, and history are important so it often figures prominently in Welsh writing. There are also a lot of very good American writers who share that passion for the land, the people and country - the two I mentioned previously, Cormac McCarthy and John Steinbeck being examples.
LC:   If you weren't an artist, you would be....
JE:   If I wasn't working in the arts, I think I'd be doing something
connected to nature and environmental conservation. When I grew up in the South Wales Valleys, the coal mines and other places of work, and all the towns and places where people lived, were all congregated on the valley floor. It was a dark and dirty world. People found freedom by escape by escaping to the mountain tops which were largely unspoiled, and places rich with wildlife and natural beauty. As a consequence many people here have a close affinity with the natural
world and wildlife.

With thanks to Ellen Feig - © LiteratureChick.com 2007