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New writing
INTERVIEW

Guest Editor KATHLEEN JAMIE introduces her pick of poetry and prose on the theme 'interview'

INTERVIEW. The very word makes the heart sink. Think – jobs, police, headmasters. Answering questions you’d rather not. Promoting oneself or judging others. It was not a promising theme, and by the paucity of the submissions (many fewer than usual) – it made other people’s hearts sink too. In fact, before I opened the not-so-fat envelope from Mslexia, I had convinced myself that the interview was the enemy of literature. I mean, if we are ‘creative’ writers and interviews are designed to eliminate all personality, all foibles, all interaction and fluidity of conversation, what are we left with? So I was quite prepared to be generous (I’ll be mean later). Under ‘interview’ are included conversations, interrogations, encounters and consultations – in fact, all of human intercourse.

Of course, I’d reckoned without the ingenuity of Mslexia writers. Although the theme stumped a lot of people, those who did manage to bend it to their own ends did so in a variety of devious ways….

What the theme did enable was interesting. Time travel, for one – some writers talked to the dead. Beatrix Potter, Grace Darling, Virginia Woolf, were amongst those who spoke to us. Only once was a job interview mentioned. Maybe people thought it too predictable. Or maybe we are all ladies of leisure? There was a lot of interest in what academics call the ‘Other’ – imagined meetings with murderers and nasty folk, people who are very definitely Not Us, but fascinate us. The idea of an ‘interview’ gave legitimacy even for imaginary encounters. And I did notice a lot of authority figures – doctors, social workers and such like. Without exception we were on the receiving end, so to speak. We were never given the encounter from the doctor or psychologists’s point of view, which is quite revealing. And there were a lot of ‘fallen’ figures – immigrants, homeless people, single mothers. So the idea of ‘interview’ offered a licence to hold conversations with people we may not otherwise find ourselves able to approach. Sometimes this led to some prosaic writing, but almost without exception the pieces were empathetic. In all of these encounters there were next to no difficulties or hostilities. We can only conclude that Mslexia readers are nice, liberal and generous. Maybe just a tad too nice? I think an interview or encounter wherein two people really locked horns, or skirted around each other might have been challenging.

For the complete essay, and for Kathleen's full selection of poetry and prose on the theme of interview, read issue 17 • Subscribe!

Read a short story chosen by
Kathleen Jamie

Blanched
by Bethan Roberts

For more on KATHLEEN JAMIE, go to www.spl.org.uk