Ashley says:
This week in the Barnes & Noble Review, the versatile author T.C Boyle, converses via e-mail with Cameron Martin about his latest novel The Women.
Boyle is the author of eight short story collections and 12 novels, including World’s End, a PEN/Faulkner winner, and Drop City, a finalist for the National Book Award. Known for his illuminating fictional treatments of historical figures, Boyle’s new novel, The Women, takes on Frank Lloyd Wright, the architectural genius who made nearly as many headlines for his romantic entanglements as he did for designing masterpieces such as the Guggenheim Museum and the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. The novel unfolds Wright’s story largely through the experiences of the wives and mistresses who played such a vital part in his groundbreaking career.
In this dialogue with Cameron Martin, T.C. Boyle shares his thoughts about the unique and prominent figures that have inspired many of his novels. He comments:
“I don’t subscribe to the notion that history is made by the generals and potentates, or certainly not exclusively. What interests me are the passionate oddballs whose obsessions play down through the generations, deciding what we eat (in Kellogg’s case, cornflakes), codifying and thus liberating our sexual practices (Kinsey), and inventing a new sort of structure for us to inhabit (Wright). All three men were great egomaniacs (much like a few novelists I know), who created great and enduring things but at the same time, as classic narcissists, did not see or regard others except as they fit into their schemes.”