Writing without TV or social media. A conversation with Ann Patchett

A novelist, essayist, cultural organiser and, together with Karen, co-owner of the splendid Parnassus bookshop – an essential hub of Nashville’s intellectual life – Ann Patchett was born in Los Angeles, where her father Frank was a police officer who enjoyed a brief moment of fame for having arrested both Charles Manson and Shiran Shiran. Her parents divorced when she was a child, and she stayed with her mother, Jeanne, a nurse, who moved to Tennessee with her second husband, whom she describes as a ‘weird’ person – a term that translates into Italian as ‘strano’, but with an unsettling connotation: She recounts that he had persuaded her to carry a gun when she was sixteen, and attributes her own refusal to send text messages via mobile phone partly to the fact that her mother was forced to reply to him the very moment she received a message from him on a pager she could never be without. She does not, however, like to talk about this.

Anna Patchett—whose latest novel, "La notte delle promesse," is due to hit Italian bookshops on 20 October, published by her Italian publisher Ponte alle Grazie—has a strong character, but she has the gift of a smile and a willingness to listen; she does not watch television and ignores social media, hoping for a quieter future so that, above all, the younger generations can concentrate and perhaps read: “After all, I live through my writing.”

She agreed to take part in this series of conversations, asking me to put the same questions to her as I had asked the other interviewees: “Through this exchange, you’ll get to know me better,” she told me. So I’ll start by asking her about her earliest memory.

“I’m lying in a cot, looking out through the bars, gazing up at a baby mobile, light streaming in from the corridor… I have many memories from before I started walking.”

“Both my parents and my stepfather were readers. I grew up in a house full of books, and the people around me were often sitting reading those books, so from that point of view my parents were fundamental to my upbringing. They weren’t very involved when it came to knowing which lessons I was attending, whether I’d done my homework, or what I wanted to study at university. As a schoolgirl, I wasn’t a very good student, but I put in a lot of effort, and they – though here I should say my mother – made me realise that it was the effort that counted, not the marks. My stepfather wanted me to go to art school and do a Master’s in Fine Art because he was the one who wanted a Master’s in Fine Art. He wanted me to get that education and somehow bring it back to him, which wasn’t possible. As for my cultural and life choices – whatever they may be – those are mine.”

“I don’t recall making a decision. It was the only thing I ever wanted to do, and that goes back to my earliest childhood.”

“A privilege. I’m lucky to know what I was meant to do with my life, and even luckier to be able to do it. I never lose sight of that.”

“Absolutely none. It’s simply a matter of coming up with an idea and finding the time. Time is what I struggle to find – preferably long stretches, by which I mean a few days in a row. Running a bookshop takes up a lot of time, as does responding to all the enquiries. I always find it hard to prioritise my writing.”

“I think it’s Grace Paley. It’s not that she isn’t read or has been forgotten, but she knew how to use her great talent with immense dignity; she was a radiant human being. And this is perhaps less well known and therefore less appreciated.”

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey”.

“To be honest, I can’t think of anyone.”

“Ezra Pound”.

“Influence is a matter of timing. The writers who influenced me were those I read when I was young: John Updike, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, J.D. Salinger. There are other writers I love even more and authors I wish I’d been influenced by, but I only came across them later.”

“It’s funny, when you asked me this question, I immediately thought of painting and said to myself, ‘How can painting be harmful to words?’ Yet I have very little to do with all those other images, for fear that they might harm me.”

What is your view on artificial intelligence in relation to writing? Is it a mortal sin, an opportunity, or something else…?

“Read above. There’s nothing I can do to stop it, and it seems potentially so harmful… not to me, but to the young people growing up in the world trying to find their own voice.”

In a recent interview, he stated: “The people I interact with every day are good people. It is incredibly rare for me to meet someone who isn’t kind. Now, if you watch the news and read the papers, it seems as though everyone is terrible and a murderer. But that is the difference between primary and secondary sources. So, if I act solely on the basis of primary sources, what I see is goodness. I fully understand that there are horrors and incredible cruelties in the world, but I also feel that these horrors and incredible cruelties are very well represented in art. And what I actually experience in my daily life is not nearly as well represented in art.” In your view, why is this the case?

“Conflict is the driving force behind the plot, and it is easier to create conflict by starting with misconduct or barbarism, just as it is easier to talk about the horrors of the world. Decency is more subtle and complex than indecency. It takes more patience and dedication to find the story there.”

“I wouldn’t even know where to start to find out what people prefer. I do know what I prefer, though: I like light.”

“An exception. But I think it’s the inevitable consequence of reality TV.”

“No, nothing.”

“It’s likely, but deep down I’m a supporter of ‘woke’ culture and political correctness.”

“I believe that God is life, what we are doing right now. I was brought up as a Catholic and I still identify as such, even though I hardly ever go to church. I was brought up in a faith centred on service: helping the poor, helping the sick, living with humility and gratitude. The Sisters of Mercy instilled this in me and it is still there.”

“I am entirely in favour of it.”

“Darkness versus light”.