Søren Kassebeer interviewing Michael Larsen
By : Søren Kassebeer
[...]
The novel also differs from my earlier books by being written in the
third person and having a woman, Annika the doctor, as its main
character; and then there is also the special problem when you are
writing about Australia that you must always remember that everything
is turned on its head. The sun is highest when in the north, you travel
towards colder areas when you go south, cars drive on the left and so
on ... There were really many decisions to be taken and many new
paths to be travelled."
Michael Larsen himself says that he has written is a modern story of
the Temptation, a novel that plays on the myth of Eve and the serpent
in Paradise and on the urge to learn more which is symbolised in
Genesis by the tree of knowledge from which Adam and Eve eat - with
the Fall and the expulsion from the Garden of Eden as the inevitable
consequences.
"And because the novel does this, playing on the contrast
Eve/serpent, I was forced to use a woman main character, a decision,
incidentally, with which I was completely happy," says Michael
Larsen.
Fundamentally, I donīt think the two sexes are all that different from
each other, and my portrait of Annika has also become a kind of
declaration of love to the feminine as such and in concrete terms to this
fictitious character who is not without her faults but is fundamentally
profoundly sympathetic."
That the serpent, the snake, could be used both as a concrete being
and a mythological figure which - in more senses than one - stretches
right into heaven, was not something of which Michael Larsen was
aware when he first began to toy with the idea of using this reptile as a
recurrent device in a book. But things developed, he says; the serpent
showed itself able to be the main symbol in the novel, and again
Michael Larsen had to have time to think.
"Whatever happened, it couldnīt be a symbol as ponderous as a
lead weight, for the starting point was quite simply a boyish
fascination with these dangerous creatures that creep along the
ground. From that to turning the snake into a symbol is quite a step, for
which reason I also ended by toning down the symbolism. Nor do I
expressly draw attention to the link between Eve and the snake, and I
have also toned down the purely moral import of the story a great deal,
although I was tempted."
It might be, says Michael Larsen, that the novel is so crammed with
information in places that its effect is rather like carpet bombing. But he
is not concerned, for he is sure that it has paid off that, in the best
journalistic manner, he has worked hard not to make the bookīs more
philosophical and explanatory passages too massive or too heavy.
"But although I fully accept that some people might think that there
is too much emphasis on the novelīs philosophical contents, I also
suffer from an unswerving conviction that readers will not put it down
half way through."
The fact that a large number of thrillers are of the type in which a
murder takes place within the first ten pages, after which it is possible
for a more or less seasoned reader to foresee the rest, is something of
which Michael Larsen is very conscious. So in Slangen i Sydney he
attempts to be totally unpredictable from start to finish: On the first
page of the book, a girl who has been bitten by a snake is admitted to
hospital. Annika, who in addition to being a doctor is an expert on
snakes and snake bites, quickly realises that someone has tried to kill
the girl. And then the story develops in such a way as to end
somewhere where the cosmic is no longer simply a philosophical or
religious problem, but a very concrete threat.
"My novel starts with an introduction to what readers think is the
story, but which turns out only to have a remote connection with the
essential theme that which comes at the very end. This structure
provides an element of unpredictability compared to more
schematically composed novels, and that is precisely what it should be
like. Just think of a film like Bryan Singerīs "The Usual Suspects" - it
really does take the mickey out of you - and that is great."
What is so wonderful about the modern thriller seen as a genre of
fiction is, adds Michael Larsen, that it contains so incredibly many
possibilities when compared with the old-fashioned detective novel.
"The author enters into a contract with his readers and says: Take it
easy, you shall be entertained, this thing is going to be exciting, but on
the way I will also take the liberty of telling you a few things... It is a
hard job to write that kind of literature, something almost so demanding
that it becomes a health risk. But it is also incredibly wonderful."
The interview was first brought in Berlingske Tidende 30.10.97
Translated by Glyn Jones
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