All In His Imagination - Part Two
© Paula E. Kirman
Last week, novelist and Arts commentator David Gilmour and I were discussing his latest novel Sparrow Nights, particularly how he came up with the story and published the novel so quickly after his last one, the immensely successful Lost Between Houses.
As our conversation continued, David talked about the path that his work is taking, particularly in terms of his inspiration. I also asked him about other projects he has been working these last couple of years, and the future of his writing.
Paula: You've dealt with the theme of older man and younger woman before, most notably in How Boys See Girls. While you were writing Sparrow Nights, did it ever concern you; did you think, "Oh no, I'm writing How Boys See Girls Volume 2"?
David: No, not at all because I guess it's just because it's a different guy and I actually never thought of it at all. I mean, I like How Boys See Girls, but believe it or not it seems like a young man's book to me. It seems horny in a way that young men are; it may have been an older guy but it's only relative to a 19-year-old girl. I'm 51 years old now, so a story of a guy in his late 30's or 40's seems like a pretty young story. This seems also to be a completely different era of life. This seems to be a book about a guy who actually feels that he has come to the end of his life and that everything from now on is essentially a repetition of what's gone on before, but that life's great moments have already happened - and essentially, what you have in that book is a kind of slightly tawdry attempt to recapture some, whether it is going to massage parlours or whether it's his pathetic, imagined relationship with this woman who ends up cleaning out his apartment. They seem like just completely different people. As I said, How Boys See Girls seems like young horniness to me as opposed to middle aged . . . I don't even know, because it's not particularly horny - the guy (I hate that word but there's no other word for it in the English language), I think the guy in my book is actually out for love more. How Boys See Girls was about sexual obsession. I think this guy is actually starving for someone to love.
Paula: You've dealt with the theme of older man and younger woman before, most notably in How Boys See Girls. While you were writing Sparrow Nights, did it ever concern you; did you think, "Oh no, I'm writing How Boys See Girls Volume 2"?
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