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‘One of the most gifted novelists of her generation’ Paul Theroux, Guardian
‘A startling young writer’ Observer
‘An author of breathtaking talent’ Irish Independent
Candida Clark was born in 1970. She has written film-scripts, short stories and journalism and reviews regularly for various newspapers.
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Which authors have influenced your writing the most and why? |
I think the above maybe answers this question. It’s a fairly eclectic form of influence. And then I’d also have to add William Faulkner to the list. Although I enjoy him less than I used to, he was a huge influence on me at a fairly early age. He and Joseph Conrad were writers who struck me very deeply on first reading – in the way of being completely agog and stunned: ‘can you do that?’ Quickly followed by a kind of ‘how on earth?’ – simply an amazement at the way language, handled with skill and a poet’s ear, can somehow seem to dissolve, so that when you’re reading, it’s the sense, or the picture, that’s most absorbing. That’s the aim I think. Conrad described the purpose of fiction as ‘to make us see’ - which is brilliant, and just right. Faulkner for his part talked about making a book in terms of being a carpenter, making a good table out of a fine piece of wood. Again – perfect. So those two have been enormously affecting. Also, a book which stands alone for me as a particular influence: J.L Carr’s ‘A Month in the Country’, which, along with Forster’s Room with a View,and Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, I’ve read more times than I care to mention..!
Of course there are also wonderful influences in the currents of contemporary fiction – some fantastic books being produced at the moment. I admire Jonathan Franzen a great deal; also, William Trevor, John Banville, Paula Fox.
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What was the last good book you read? |
I just finished Mrs Gaskell’s North and South and was completely bowled over by it. People have been mentioning her to me for ages, and I’ve had her on my radar because of her connections to the part of Yorkshire where I grew up. I read her ‘Sylvia’s Lovers’ a long time ago, and liked it but wasn’t absolutely taken with it, so thought it was time I took another look, and am so glad I did. It’s an utterly wonderful novel. Beautifully plotted, rich with emotional charge, full of yearning and passion.
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To what extent has your life experience influenced your writing? |
In one sense I suppose the answer is ‘absolutely’ – insomuch as I don’t suppose I would or could have written the things I have, in the way I do, without everything that has happened to date in my life so far. But – and this is the huge reservation I have about answering this sort of question – one of the chief aspects of writing fiction is the element of judgment. All writing is in a way a kind of editing: worrying away your idea until it works. This might be a matter of avoiding anything that could be construed as autobiographical, a historical fact or personal opinion; or it could be simply about not letting the mood of a particular period of your life make its way undigested onto the page. All these things are about judgment and control.
A good novel should be able to stand quite apart from the author’s life – ‘have legs’ of its own, to continue Faulkner’s idea of a well-made table (!). To do that, it has to remain separate to a great degree from the author’s experience. Often, of course, you can go rather far with this rule – find yourself writing something say about a blissful romance, when your private life is anything but that – or vice versa! And then there’s the problem of trying your hardest to keep your own experience out of things, only to find that it’s unintentionally crept in and people think you’ve put them in a book… It’s very tricky – and one of the biggest questions there is: how much any story is in some oblique way a portrait of the author Very much so? Not at all? More often than not, it’s both those things at once.
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Do you always know how your books will end before you start writing? |
Yes, absolutely. But then often the way you get to the end is nothing as you’d imagined – the material facts might be the same, but the sense of it is completely unexpected. Still, having a clear sense of where you’re going I think is the best way of giving a book that lovely shape and cadence of purpose which it feel more like music – so that there at the end are the final bars. That’s when it’s most satisfying.
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What inspired your new novel The Chase? |
It was actually the real historical moment – February 19th 2005 – when the ban on fox hunting came into force. Whether you’re pro or anti, it was an extraordinary day, and a gift of a subject for a novelist. All the drama of it, for one thing, and then the meeting of politics and romance, history, class – it had it all. It was a wonderful subject to write about – quite aside from the horses, and all the paraphernalia of hunting which is anyway so vivid and exciting. It struck me as a remarkable moment in time – a combination of personal stories and a political moment – the fact that after seven hundred years of foxhunting, there’d come one day when it would all be over. It was such a pleasure to write that I’m quite sorry actually that that book is finished. But we’re an island of fishermen and farmers, and I’ve written one book THE MARINER'S STAR set at sea, and three of the others are set in the countryside – it’s very much my subject.
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How is your new novel different from the previous one? |
A HOUSE OF LIGHT was also set for the most part over a weekend, and also in a country house – Kent that time, rather than Wiltshire, but it was rather more of a ‘thriller’’, with a more international political angle to it, and with a central character, a young woman photographer, who discovers dark secrets about her family’s past.. THE CHASE I wanted to be much more of a focused ‘ensemble piece’. Tere’s still a central character, but I wanted it to be more of an emotional journey for her, in the context of her marriage and family. Then of course, there are all the horses… the previous one doesn’t have any of those!
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What kind of audience is THE CHASE aimed at? |
A very hard question to answer! I’d like to think it would appeal to anyone who enjoys a good, hopefully well-made story – something that’s passionate, possibly quite old-fashioned in the sense of being about the old hardy perennials: love, marriage, jealousy, families, the countryside, sibling rivalry – or what the great Faulkner called ‘the human heart in conflict with itself’ - those kinds of moral and emotional puzzles humankind has always wrestled with. But what a question! It always seems wonderful to be read at all. I think there’s a very definite way in which all writers are in some way honouring all the great books they themselves have loved – you’re writing as a nod of thanks to that.
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