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GLEN DAVID GOLD
‘I'VE WRITTEN A COMPLETELY UNFILMABLE BOOK ABOUT HOLLYWOOD AND WAR'
The book starts with a stunning set piece.
detailing the real-life phenomenon in l916 of
hundreds of sightings of Chaplin all across America on the same day. This bizarre mass hysteria was dubbed ‘Chaplin-itis‘ at the time. and was an indication both of Chaplin's extraordinary fame and the air of extreme anxiety in a country getting ready for war. From that opening. the narrative ripples out in many directions. but always engaging and thought provoking. as Gold examines verything from the invention of modern celebrity to the power of cinema. the dreadful realities of war to the search for hope in the most desperate of human circumstances. It switches from intimate. moving passages to grand. sweeping commentaries on America's struggle to define itself in the modern era. ‘There was an interesting confluence at that
time.‘ says Gold. 'There were huge decisions being made about America's relationship with the rest of the world. And since the war was happening at the same time as the ascendance of America as a cultural power. it struck me as a very fruitful time to write about.’
Both .S'unizysiile and Gold‘s debut straddle the gap between literary and commercial fiction. His work gives the lie to the idea that page- turners have to be dumb. or that books with big ideas and things to say are boring. ‘When I was working on Carter. someone asked me if it was literary or commercial. and I had no idea what the difference was.‘ he says. “That’s not something I think about too much. Hopefully the reader will get a lot out of this book. in the sense there’s a lot of thought gone into it. It brings tip a lot of literary ideas. but at the same time there are also dancing girls. flame- throwers and dogsjumping from biplanes.‘
Gold wrote an amusing blog during the writing of .S'iuiiiyside. which gave the impression that marshalling his ideas was like herding cats. At one point the page count for the manuscript reached l.28(). although he eventually wheedled it down to a measly 980. which. thanks to some nifty book design. has somehow been squeezed into a 56(l-page tome.
I point out that for a book that's partly about the power of cinema. his novel's sprawling structure means it would be a real bastard to adapt into a film. He laughs hard.
‘I handed it over to my agent in Hollywood and said. "Here. I‘ve written a completely unfilmable book about Hollywood and war." But he‘s still convinced there's a movie in it. There are plenty of strikes against it.
‘l‘irst. Hollywood doesn't like making movies about Hollywood. Second. Russia in winter‘.’ No way. And third. one of the heroes of the book. his most heroic moment is to bring two dogs to be suckled by a young prostitute. Show me a list of Hollywood stars who would sign up for that scene.‘
Gold has his fair share of Hollywood experience. The film rights for Carter Beats the Devil were optioned by Tom Cruise for a couple of years. a deal which fell apart. Then the rights were taken tip by the team behind Mad Men. again. with no end result. Plus. before Gold ever even wrote fiction. he spent years as a struggling screenwriter.
’There‘s a big salt mine down there in Hollywood. where they threaten you with the idea you might actually make money. then never give you any. I tried for seven or eight years to get screenplays made and I think 1 got paid a total of $3.000.
‘I much prefer fiction. because with a book it takes four or live people to say “yes" between the moment it leaves your desk and when it hits the bookstores. whereas movies can take forever and can get derailed for reasons that have nothing to do with whether the story is any good or not.’
The movie world‘s loss is our gain. With .S'iiiznyside. Gold has written a grand. expansive story about the need for us to impose narrative sense on the chaos of life. a deeply moving examination of the power of storytelling.
Plus. don‘t forget the dancing girls. flamethrowers and dogs jumping from biplanes.
Sunnyside is out Thu 25 Jun, published by Sceptre.
COUPLE OF
BOOKWORMS
Inspired by Glen David Gold and Alice Sebold, Brian Donaldson peeks at the dust jackets to uncover other literary couples
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER
& NICOLE KRAUSS
As a teenager. Nicole Krauss had a crush on German philosopher Walter Benjamin. Considering he died in 1940 (either from suicide while fleeing the Nazis or at the hands of brutal Stalinist agents while fleeing the Nazis. depending on who you believe). and she was born in 1974, there was never any chance of the pair getting it on. She eventually plumped for the Everything is Illuminated author. This golden NYC literary couple now have two no doubt unfeasibly beautiful NYC children.
PAUL AUSTER & SIRI HUSTVEDT
“' The cigarillo- smoking scribe of such existential masterworks as The New York Trilogy and The Music of Chance is in his second literary marriage having wed short story writer Lydia Davis. New Jerseyite Auster is now wed to Minnesotan Hustvedt and has met his bookish match as she has amassed acclaimed novels such as What / Loved and Sorrows of an American. This golden NYC literary couple now have one no doubt unfeasibly beautiful NYC child.
SYLVIA PLATH & TED HUGHES
‘4 The ultimate tragic i bookish pair who wed four months after meeting and whose writings have been overshadowed by death. Plath committed suicide in 1963 and Hughes found love with another woman Assia Wevill. That all ended horrendously when Wevill murdered their own toddler daughter before replicating Plath's death by asphyxiation.
ZADIE SMITH & NICK LAIRD
This pair met at Cambridge where Laird was editing an anthology of poetry and prose and became the first to publish Smith They received somewhat unwelcome attention from a doorstepping tabloid hack who demanded to know if a neighbour was indeed being driven to a nervous breakdown by the racket made by their whirlpool bath. An appliance which, of course. they didn‘t possess.
F SCOTT & ZELDA FITZGERALD Ah the good old days when married literary couples shared the bloke's surname. Hubbie described his missus as the first American tlapper' which we think relates to her status as a fashion icon of the Roaring Twenties and not her tendency to get into a panic in the knchen.
2:3 Jun—9 Jul 2009 THE LIST 27