The UAE News report: For writers and visual artists, it begins with observation,” said Yann Martel in an online session broadcast on 07 November 2020 as part of the ongoing Sharjah International Book Fair 2020 (SIBF 2020).
In an interview with Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives, the bestselling author of Life of Pi said his work originated from observing the unusual. “You tend to notice things as they strike you – not just physical things, but also emotions,” Martel observed. “All art starts with a certain discomfort with things. Artists try to recognise their discomfort with the world, and create art as a result.”
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He endorsed celebrated novelist J.M. Coetzee’s observation that all art results from ‘a steady gaze’. “That steady observation begins a thought process that leads to a work of art – of course, after a lot of work,” said Martel in the interview as part of Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF 2020).
At SIBF 2020, he illustrated it with the example of his latest novel titled Son of Nobody, which is in the final stages of completion. “It resulted from my reading of a translation of The Iliad by Homer a few years ago. The Trojan War fascinated me, but what really caught my attention was this commoner, Thersites, who is the only person to protest the war. That planted the seed for Son of Nobody.”
Martel lives with his novels for a long time, three years in the case of Son of Nobody. “I am a one-trick pony,” he said. “I cannot work on multiple books at the same time. I live with my book, research it, keep going back and forth as research throws up new ideas. However, the gaze remains steady.”
While the actual process of writing remains a mystery for Martel, “I do have a plan of how to go about it. When I write the first sentence, I already know what the last sentence would be. But I am still surprised. Writing is like travelling. You may have your plans, your backpack and guidebooks, but it is still an adventure that can turn out differently.”
Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF 2020) started on November 4 and will continue until November 14 at Expo Centre Sharjah.
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