TitleTales

Interview: Mark Kurlansky

Mark Kurlansky is the New York Times best-selling author of many books, including The Food of a Younger Land; Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World; Salt: A World History; 1968: The Year That Rocked the World; and The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell.

Also a journalist, Kurlansky’s articles have appeared in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, and his books have been translated into 25 languages and he often illustrates them himself.

He has had 23 books published including fiction, nonfiction and children’s books and has earned ALA Notable Book awards, the Orbis Pictus award, The New York Public Library Best Book of the Year Award and the Pluma Plata award.

Battle Fatigue, a YA novel, debuts in October 2011.

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BWI: You seem to have a very wide variety of interest, from theatre to humanitarian work, and you write for audiences ranging from children to adults. How do you focus on any one subject?

MK: I am not sure that I do. I get an idea, something I want to write about and then I have a very long conversation with myself about it. I do have that central spine – the idea. But then I allow myself to run out in a lot of directions. You can do that as long as you always remember to bring the reader back to the subject. You can have many digressions, but they must be loops not spikes.

BWI: Of all the subjects that you have researched, which have been the most interesting to you personally?

MK: I think most important to me are how human beings live with each other in peace, the power of nonviolence, and the uselessness and sadness of war. I am also fascinated by a close cousin of this idea – how human beings live with nature. But when I look back over my books – Battle Fatigue is my 23rd – the most consistent theme is survival. Physical survival, cultural survival, all forms of survival.

BWI: In writing for Battle Fatigue, how did researching and writing a novel differ from researching and writing a nonfiction title? Did anything change about your writing process?

MK: I have written a great deal of both and the process is similar. Both involve factual research. But in fiction you have to dig within yourself and your experience for things you find in archives for nonfiction. With fiction often you are the archive.

BWI: What inspired you to write a book for young adults? What differences must you consider when writing for a young adult age audience? Do you find it easier or more difficult to write for young people?

MK: I could have written this story for almost any age but I very much wanted to tell this story to teenagers. I don’t know that I would have written it very differently for adults. I think kids are very underestimated. They understand a great deal more than adults suppose. They are constantly talked down to and they often feel insulted. When I talk to kids, whether it is my daughter and her friends, neighbors, or school groups, I don’t use a special language. I talk to them in the same way I talk to adults. You don’t need to constantly use words like “cool” and a lot of talk about high-fiving. Kids are really smarter than that.

BWI: Topics like baseball, which you wrote about in The Eastern Stars, and works that include environmental topics or the events of 1968 can all be seen as foundations for Joel Bloom’s story. How autobiographical is Battle Fatigue? Is it based on some of your own coming-of-age experiences? Is it a story that you have wanted to tell for quite some time? How has your view of war changed since your decision as a young man to be a conscientious objector?

MK: Inevitably there is an assumption that fiction is autobiography. This is not really true though I draw a lot from my own experiences. I was born on December 7, 1948, in a blue-collar, New England town. I did grow up playing war with World War II souvenirs and wore my uncle’s army field jacket for more than 20 years. The school bully did try to hit me with a baseball bat because I won a varsity letter in baseball and he did not. I knew a German exchange student whose father was a war criminal. I did try to stop school fighting by refusing to hit opponents (a disaster). I was drafted into the Vietnam War and refused to serve. But I also made many things up. I didn’t go to Canada, or become a biologist, or even go to college in New England. Most of the characters including Joel’s friends and family, are made up. So this is not at all an autobiography. During the Vietnam War I only opposed that war, not all war, which is why I was denied conscientious objector status. Later, as a newspaper reporter, I saw war firsthand and came to understand that it was not just Vietnam but all war that was wrong. I have wanted for a very long time to explain to other generations the experience of my generation from World War II to the Cold War to Vietnam, and how it made us the way we are. Or to put it another way, what we have learned from history.

BWI: In Battle Fatigue, the main character mentions a time when he left his childhood behind. Is there a major historical event during your childhood that created this turning point for you?

MK: The murder of Robert Kennedy, who I had met and worked for, but really it was the entire Spring of 1968 – from the Tet offensive in Vietnam to the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., to the Kennedy killing.

BWI: What do you think the reaction of parents/teachers/community will be to this book? Do you think people will view this as anti-military or anti-US?

MK: I cannot predict other people’s reactions. It is neither anti-military nor anti-America. It may be anti-military establishment but it, and I, has tremendous compassion for soldiers. I see soldiers as victims misused and abused by their commanders, their government and society. I think we should listen to them more instead of saying they are heroes and consigning them to silence. Some of the most ardent fans of my 1968 book have been Vietnam combat veterans and I suspect they will appreciate this book as well. As for anti-US, that is a concept invented by people who do not want to make this country better. All countries are wrong from time to time, quite often. But by recognizing those mistakes we can be better.

BWI: Ten years after September 11, 2001 there is still much interest in joining the military by young people. Do you think the story of Joel Bloom will translate for the young women of today who are considering military service? How do you feel this book will help readers see the whole picture about war and joining the military? What has prompted you to write this book now?

MK: Actually, the military had a very difficult time finding recruits after September 11th. I am heartened by the fact that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have been even more unpopular than Vietnam. Only more recently, with an economic downturn, has military recruitment been doing well. There is an underlying truth. A volunteer army preys on the poor and the unemployed. Men and women are not recruited to kill human beings. This is generally not discussed. It is all about job opportunities and training. A recruitment pitch sounds like the Job Corps. Then they are sent to kill people and come back deeply troubled. I think these kids ought to be told they are being hired for the purpose of killing and that they may end up with very troubled feelings about their military experience. In any event let’s get this discussed.

BWI: What would you most like librarians to say about this book when introducing it to readers? What would you most like teens to take away from this novel?

MK: This is the story of a boy who was raised on the glory of war, how he decides not to fight, what that decision costs him, and what it gives him. It is about making your own choices. If you want to feel good about yourself, you have to find your own way and stand by it regardless of what anyone else says about it.

BWI: Would you like to tell us a bit more about your upcoming biography of Clarence Birdseye? What have been some of the most surprising facts you’ve learned during the course of your research? Can you tell us about any other future projects?

MK: Clarence Birdseye lived from 1886 to 1956. Famous for inventing the modern industrial frozen-food process, he was a remarkably curious and inventive man. But he was a 19th-century man, born in the height of the industrial revolution and firmly believing that industry makes everything wonderful, that industry can make food better. Researching Birdseye I realized to what extent 19th-century thinking dominated the first 60 years of the 20th century. I am also working on a history of the 1964 Motown song “Dancing in the Streets,” How it announced the arrival of the 1960s and the role that it has played ever since.

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