The main motivation for attending the book reading/Q&A of James Ellroy, was primarily to understand more about the great mind behind one of my favourite films, 'L.A. Confidential'. Having never been to a book reading, I was also curious to see how literary types discuss their artform and perhaps pick up on their feelings towards filmmaking given the film adaptations of his work.
From the very moment Ellroy entered the stage and began reading an opening speech, then proceeding onto his book reading, it became quickly evident that this is the type of artist who constantly exhibits a carefully crafted public persona. He introduced himself as the great high priest who was present in England - the place of his mother tongue - and at this Q&A, to kneel in prayer along with the congregation at the "kneel where prayer has proven valid".
I was quickly reminded of Lars von Trier who is famous for his provocative relationship with journalists, and tendency to make public statements and conduct interviews with a great deal of performativity that means you can trust very little of what he says despite its apparantly genuine value. Both characters have proclaimed themselves as genii, but ironically have both been heralded as such by the same media for whom they orchestrate their performance. In Ellroy's case, barely a sentence is uttered that doesn't seem sarcastic, satirical or ironic, which is especially interesting because he writes every word so that it's callibrated to how he speaks.
His latest memoir 'The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women' was discussed since it expresses a very personal journey that stems from what he believes was a curse he put on his mother, that resulted in her being subsequently murdured three months later. It then charts his relationship "romantic fixation" with the other sex. When asked if its a womaniser's confession or honest appeal to women, Ellroy candidly exclaimed that it is a "predator's confession... a loveseeker's spiritual quest..." and that "the two are inextricable".
Conversation then moved onto his writing process and his "retro fantasist" obsession with writing crime fiction based between the 60s and 80s, and set within Los Angeles, US. Time Out Editor - and host - Chris Moss queried Ellroy's intentions, wondering why he seemed content to be aligned with the stereotype of the American that's naive about culture outside of his continent. Ellroy's response seemed ironically quite brutally honest. For him its about rewriting history to his specification as a way of re-living his key obsessions; firstly, this period of history, and the idea of corrupt shadowy meglomanic men, who engineer and manipulate political agenda's, and what happens when they are confronted by strong women. Regarding the claim of naivety, Ellroy proudly explained how in the planning stages, he typically hires a friend to visit any places outside of LA that will feature in the novel. For him artistic licence is paramount; the bottom line on historical fiction is "how well can you make this s**t up!?".
Like Mike Leigh, Ellroy's genre extends to his approach and its recurring themes, as well as its delivery. It was therefore an interesting insight when when he carefully emphasise how complex and in-depth his planning phase is, which he believes helps him realise his work. In response to assertions of pompositity for the self-claimed standard of genius, Ellroy explained that he is a "fanatical, researcher, notetaker, reader, thinker, detailer, outliner, conceiver", which comes from a past epipheny that "whatever I conceive I can execute". Mainly due to his self-procalimed "superb ability to sustain concentration", and being a very disciplined thinker.
He explained how he writes by hand, since he has willingly never learnt to use a computer (he has no mobile phone and no TV). He plays no music since he requires silence, which in terms of planning includes extensive periods where he lies "in the dark, to think, to figure s**t out, and to put it together". The reason for his extensive planning is that it frees him to write to write extemporaneously, improvisationaly because the overall schema, the diagram for the book, is detailed enough to give latitude to write individual scenes and improvise within them "because the superstructure is just that strong".
When asked about the the suggestion that crime fiction belongs to 'low culture', Ellroy responded, quoting American novelist Frank O'Conners, "A literature that cannot be vulgarised is no literature at all and will not last".
When asked about film options on his books, Ellroy had the following to say:
"Anyone who wants to option one of my books to be made into a movie is more than welcome to do so, if they pay me. It has often been said that the superbly realised released, successful motion picture, is to the optioned book what the first kiss is, to the 50th monogamous anniversary. Many called, few chosen. There will be movies you wanna see like LA Confidential, there are movies you wanna flee like The Black Dahlia." I joined the hearty applause whilst feeling strangely guilty for choosing to be part of an industry that can manage to make a poor film, despite the strength of the source material. Duly noted Mr Ellroy!
Links:
(Please contact me directly for a link to the recording of the Q&A)
References:
ELLROY, J. (2010) Question & Answer Session. 6 October.
