Digging into Familial Soil with Joseph O'Neill [Texas Book Festival Interview]
Saturday, October 16
Texas State Capitol (1100 Congress Ave)
10:30 - 11:30, Capitol Extension Room E2.016
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Chances are you may have come across writer Joseph O'Neill from a couple of directions. Fiction buffs may remember him winning 2009’s The PEN/Faulkner Award for his book Netherland, which intertwines 9/11, cricket and friendships. Those readers who prefer the historical may know him from the non-fiction Blood-Dark Track: A Family History, which details the Irish and Turkish sides of his family, and uncovers some surprising similarities therein. You’re also allowed to be interested in both, and the two crossover inasmuch as they describe what it’s like to be a citizen of the world and the intricacies of cultural pollination. O’Neill was on his way to a subway when we spoke to him via phone, but we did our best to capture the heart of our talk with this interview - in which we discuss family histories, politics, and freely associate Austin with beer.
It may be hard to think of one’s self as truly unique, but your family seems to have more surprises, secrets and intrigue than the average. Do you think of yourself as different in regard to having so much to work with?
I never grew up with the feeling that I had an exceptionally unusual family, or an exceptionally usual family. It’s just that when you go into, you know, familial soil, you encounter worms and other things there. I suspect that many people - or most people - if they dig a little would come up with something interesting. My family was unusual in the sense that it was a blend of the Turkish and the Irish, but I never felt that I had a particularly unusual family.
That was actually my second part of the question - if someone dug deeply enough, would they be able to find something? And you think, most certainly yes, that every family has some sort of surprising events that got them to where they are today.
Well, every family is connected to history, and so it becomes a political history of a family. And of course every family has its personal dramas - otherwise we wouldn’t exist. I mean traditionally, it must have some interface with history - particularly people of my grandfather’s generation, where we get into interesting territory. With people my age, our grandfathers would have been somehow involved in the Second World War. So I think it’s a question of taking an interest, really. Which is a political question as well.
Political in what way?
I mean, your grandfather voted democrat or republican - what would that mean about the way you vote? That’s interesting. In the book, I sort of suggest in the prologue, that our grandchildren - if they’re interested! - will be able to look at our lives in the context of 9/11, and say, “Where did they stand? What did it mean? And what do we learn from it?”
I see.
And with you in Texas, you have a very interesting political history at present.
Absolutely.
I would suggest that it’s extremely interesting to know where people stand now. It’s extremely revealing.
Blood-Dark Track: A Family History was your first work of non-fiction in book form. Is there anything else interesting that you feel like you’d like to write about or are investigating?
I’m not so sure. You know, I’m a novelist, and to write about my family is randomly interesting to me and it doesn’t require any expertise or body of learning. It’s not like writing about politics or biology or philosophy. I’d have to be a lot more learned than I am.
How long are you going to be in Texas, and what else are you doing outside of the Texas Book Festival?
I’m staying for a couple days, but then I have to dash off to Minneapolis. I have been to Austin before, and I have friends in Austin. I’m always happy to be there - and I mainly associate Austin with beer, for some reason (laughs).
Beer! (laughs)
Do you have lots of microbreweries, or am I just dreaming?
No, we definitely do. It makes perfect sense that you would associate the two. That’s great.
It’s not a bad thing - it’s a very happy thing.
Joseph O'Neill: [Granta]
