Location in Literature

Novelists have to study the society they choose to document with a gimlet eye. Put a character in the wrong social context and the reader will think the writer lazy or stupid.



My admiration for their endeavours is enormous as most of the work is buried beneath the surface of the final text and research takes an eternity. Paying a researcher would probably be essential if one were to want to be prolific. I often think that the major names of the past had a retinue of people round them to make sure details were correct and the interminable letters they were compelled to write, checking details in places they could not visit, must have left many of them with a hefty expenditure every year.

That, when you think of it, is what makes buying a book such a remarkably good bargain. For the cost of an average bottle of wine one has access to an item, well presented, and bursting with entertainment or information (or preferably both).

I know that a lot of people are annoyed at the number of new "books" that will first see the light of day as e-books. I don't seem to be able to find much personal annoyance in this and the market will usually dictate the form. If more and more people read on public transport while commuting, a book is more efficiently carried as a small computer and there is less chance of it being damaged.

I like reading online and the light from the computer is probably helping me avoid seasonal affective disorder even though I don't usually suffer from it. I'm forever dropping bits of food onto my books so the computer is a nicer way of getting through the day without causing a mess.

Reading in bed is another matter, as a book is such a manageable object and can even induce sleep. I've often wondered if there is a gene for compulsive reading, as once I found books there was no stopping my desire to possess and read them, morning, noon and (with a flashlight) night. The style of presentation is as important as the subject matter and the cheap editions with mean small print were not a favourite at any time.

That is where the American book industry comes into its own. Writers who would never get published have an industry and educated public which can support some of the most beautiful hard backs one could ever dream of. My French paperbacks continue to fall to bits at the seams (cheap glue). Irish books have cover art that I often find to have some nefarious link to the national colour schemes as officially perceived. They make my eyes smart. But for absolute security and pleasure, nothing beats a cookery book published in Britain or a gardening one by the French (or vice versa).

I have avoided writing much about my great coup in having a photo chosen as a book cover for Alan Glynn's American edition of "Winterland". This is not based on modesty as, in true gallic fashion, I am very proud of having got to manage such a herculean task. Twenty years ago I practiced saying "No!" until it became a reflex, even in my sleep. There is no point in inviting trouble and books, whatever their subject matter, are always trouble. They are very precious because of that and the hopes and energy of so many people are involved that to not pull one's weight would be a very great problem in the long run.

So, it was with great horror that I set out to send a photo the size of a billboard measured in pixel size to New York. I continue to be eternally grateful to Tommy Kavanagh in Boards.ie who put me on the right track when I had not a clue what I was supposed to do. The copyright laws I signed remind me of the system that finally captured Al Capone and I ended up worrying that, if the blessed book did not sell, somehow the cover would be suspected of not being up to scratch.

All worries have been dispelled, however, by the lively social life that such risk taking has ensured. Trotting off to book readings, (never without a copy of the book which is not available in Europe), is a pleasure that only the editors who encouraged such foolhardy behaviour knew would result, is now quite a regular occurrence.

Also, it has given me the courage to write truly complicated sentences again.

Once published in New York, one can say anything one likes, within reason.

And it is a very well written book...