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Arthur Nersesian
Arthur Nersesian is a New York writer. His novels are a celebration of marginal characters living in the East Village and trying to survive.
Nersesian's books include ' Chinese Takeout', 'The F**k-Up', 'Suicide Casanova', 'East Village Tetralogy', 'Manhattan Loverboy', 'Unlubricated' and 'The Sacrificial Circumcision of the Bronx'. His new novel 'Mesopotamia' is due for release in the UK in August.
Nersesian has been a fixture in the New York writing scene for many years. He was an editor for 'The Portable Lower East Side', which was an important magazine during the 1980s and early 90s.
When 'The F**k-Up' came out in 1997, MTV Books picked it up and reprinted it in a new edition for hipsters everywhere. It has since sold over 100,000 copies. Soon, Nersesian was no longer known only to a cabal of young bohemians on Avenue A. His work has been championed by 'The Village Voice' and 'Time Out'.
For a full listing of all his books go to Arthur Nersesian's website.
This interview was conducted via E-mail, 17 - 31 May 2010.
Jeff Smith-Hayzer: Arthur thanks for taking part in this interview. What do you like or dislike most about interviews?
Arthur Nersesian: The fact that the publicity helps sales is probably what I like most since I only see money if the book sells. The fact that most interviewers usually ask the same basic questions usually makes it feel like a waste.
JSH: Why Do You Write?
AN: Aside from anything altruistic about the human condition, I'm beginning to think I suffer from some kind of disorder, like drug addiction or OCD. Writing has only hurt my quality of life with its long hours and low pay. Yet unlike addicts, people still encourage me.
JSH: What is it about writing you most hate?
AN: No money. I would've made a lot more working at Starbucks.
JSH: Your realist fiction characters all seem to be outsiders of some sort. Do you consider yourself to be an outsider?
AN: I suppose so, but not by choice. I seem to get pushed outside a lot.
JSH: Do you think, then, that we have an agency in the world, or are we, like some of your characters, the result of the things that happen to us?
AN: By agency you mean God or a higher design of some kind, I have no clue. I certainly think that a lot of both the good and bad that goes into a person comes out of a person in different ways.
JSH: Do you have a particular political or philosophical stance that you are trying to express through your books?
AN: Nothing that can be corralled under any curt or convenient banner, no.
JSH: How do you think that modern fiction contributes to the ongoing social discourse of who we are and how we should live?
AN: I fear it's slowly being squeezed out of the general picture. While many magazines are adding cyber review pages, they're dropping book review pages.
JSH: What hopes do you hold for the future of the novel?
AN: sheer vanity will keep people writing novels til the end of our time on this dying planet, whether anyone reads them is a whole other matter. I can envision a screenplay set in the near future: A thousand pompous, self-indulgent writers viciously competing with each other to search out the last remaining readers in order to justify all their sad and lonely scribblings.
JSH: Do you write with an audience in mind or does your compulsion mean that you could continue to write if there was no audience?
AN: I've solicited opinions about my writing, but I've never written with a particular audience in mind. In regard to writing without an audience, I don't know. All alone in a room, keeping my hands busy without any real progress, it sounds slightly masturbatory.
JSH: You teach creative writing in the South Bronx. Do you think that writing is something that can benefit from tuition?
AN: I was actually let go due to budget cuts. When you say "benefit from tuition", if you mean government subsidizing the arts, that usually becomes a political hot potato. "This painting is too conservative, that dance performance is too liberal".
JSH: Do you intend to teach anywhere else, and if so, what do you get out of teaching writing?
AN: I'm currently doing substitute teaching, but only ESL. I actually would like to teach creative writing somewhere. I think I'd have a lot to impart. I applied for one creative writing teaching job, but didn't even get an interview.
JSH: Who, or what, is your greatest inspiration?
AN: They come from different sources. Strangely, it's been George W. Bush lately. (I don't blame Bush, if I were below average I would've wanted to be President too). The thing that was surprising to me was that so many Americans vote for him. (Even though he lost the first general election, it shouldn't have come that close). For the first time, I started doubting the destiny of our troubled planet I mean if so many people can't even tell the difference between a clearly mediocre person and someone smarter and more experienced, what chance is there for the future?
JSH: Ian McEwan made reference in his new novel that each generation believes it is living at the end of days, as this gives more significance to our own existence. What is your view of human progress in the light of global warming, global capitalism, population crisis etc. and do you have any faith in it?
AN: Global warming, runaway capitalism, population explosions, all these are far more difficult to undo than say the spread of Communism. Historically mankind has always reacted to crisis, never acted to prevent them. Now is when we should be acting, but we're not. I fear that when it's time to react, it'll be too late.
JSH: When people comment negatively on your work, how does it affect you?
AN: It all depends. When I'm writing my books, I usually show friends early drafts. If they simply respond that they like my book it doesn't help. I really am looking for holes in the work. Weak motivations, poorly drawn scenes, sappy characters, things that need to be tightened or weeded out. I try to find the soft spots. My editor does a pretty good job of it and usually it's a real headache to redraft, but when he's right it makes the book better.
JSH: What do you consider your greatest achievement?
AN: I suppose it would be the whole writing thing. I really haven't been particularly good at much else.
JSH: Which of your books are you most proud of and why?
AN: I remember William Faulkner regarding his books as his children and taking an added interest in the books that had been most misconstrued; I believe he said it was 'The Sound and The Fury'. The project that I'm in the middle of, Book Three of 'The Five Books of Moses' is probably my most ambitious work. In fairness, I haven't finished writing it. So I should probably say if I can finish it, I'll be proudest of the work.
JSH: What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
AN: Deplore is a harsh word. I don't think I deplore anything. If you look at the seven deadly sins, (greed, lust, envy, sloth, wrath, pride, jealousy, something like that) they each have something positive built in them. It's all about moderation. Except maybe sloth - well that might be just a harsh way to say resting.
JSH: What is the trait you most deplore in others?
AN: So many people waste time on such pedestrian things, rerun TV shows, running through the motions of life. If people did just one tiny new thing each day, try a dish they don't normally try, open a book that they never heard of and read a page of it. Try walking down a different street; I guess it can all be summed up in the notion of striving for some originality. We only get the one life. What's the point of living a life that millions of others have lived in?
JSH: When are you happiest?
AN: When I finished a good day of writing I feel like today in some small way I've justified my accidental little existence on this loud and crowded earth.
JSH: Thank you.
Photograph of Arthur Nersesian © Patrick Nersesian
