Interview with Kent Harrington (February 2005)
Author of Red Jungle (2005)
Kent Harrington is a fourth generation San Franciscan and a graduate of San Francisco State University. Since the publication of his debut novel, Dark Ride, in 1996, his work has attracted a cult following of enthusiastic fans. His most recent novel is the superb Red Jungle, which many are calling his masterpiece. He lives in Northern California with his wife.
Q. Forgive me for asking, but why is a writer with such obvious talent as Kent Harrington not better known? What the hell is wrong with the publishing business anyway?
A. The industry's definition of commercial has probably gotten too narrow. The editors et al. have gotten too conservative in their choices. Obviously, this is the case with Red Jungle, as readers seem to be saying the book is commercial, if by the term "commercial" one simply means “popular.”
Q. What made you decide to start writing crime fiction? Do you ever wish you'd been a poet instead? Or maybe a longshoreman?
A. I didn't decide to write crime fiction exactly. I was too un-sophisticated when I started out to know that "genre" (crime fiction) was walled off from the rest of the literary world. I just wanted to be a popular novelist. I wanted to write the kind of novels I enjoyed as a kid. Maybe I'd have understood it all more if I'd read a lot of crime fiction, but the fact was I hadn't read much of it, if any. I read mostly "literary" fiction because that was what they handed me in school: Hemingway (who I wanted to be), Fitzgerald, D.H. Lawrence, Greene, Faulkner, Orwell. These were the writers I grew up with, loved and learned from.
Nothing is better to me, even today, than to read the beginning of A Farewell to Arms (a great anti-war book, by the way). I did want to be a poet for a while, not long, but I didn't have the purity of heart you need for that work. I'm too materialistic and I wanted to impress the girls, and poets weren't, I thought then, tough enough. (I'd never heard of the beat poets, obviously.) Anyway, I really just wanted to have Ernest's job. It looked to me like a pretty good job. I never got that job. I think he was the only one who ever had that job, in fact.
Q. Red Jungle is one of the best books I've read in a while. Ordinarily, I'm reluctant to throw around words like "masterpiece," but this one might just qualify. Can you tell us a little about the writing of the book?
A. Thank you. I started the book in my uncle's house in Guatemala City. I remember the day I started it. It was a very beautiful and soft morning like you get in the tropics. Maybe, if there's any merit in the book, it's because it started at such an auspicious moment. It was just right, perfect. Sometimes you just luck out with a book and things go well.
I was, like Russell [the novel’s protagonist], about ready for anything. That may have added something. I remember shortly after starting the novel, I was at a relative's plantation and my little cousin's husband -- who was caught up in some political arguments with some heavy duty generals --was going to drive to the capital alone. We all thought that he would be ambushed and killed, as that is the way most political discussions with generals end in that part of the world. And I remember saying, "I'll go and I'll ride shotgun. Get me an M-16 or whatever you have, and I'll go with you." Now this was suicide, but I didn't care. In fact, I looked forward to the fight. That was the state of mind I was in at the time. I think -- perversely -- that attitude leads to good things because you don't try to write what you think people want you to write, you just write because you have to. And that's two different ways of writing, believe me. I wrote Red Jungle because I had to write it. I didn’t care whether it was published or not. (I wouldn't recommend this lifestyle, though. It's not healthy, or in any way good for you. But neither is being a writer, really.)
Q. Was it frustrating for you not to get one of the big publishers to take on Red Jungle?
A. Yes it was, very much so. Because, being stubborn, I believed in the book, especially after people said, "Hey Kent, this is a pretty good novel."
Now it's a little easier, because the response to the book has been more than I could have hoped for; readers seem to be embracing it, and that's very heartening. You can't ask for more than that -- to have someone come up to you and say they enjoyed something you wrote. It's a wonderful feeling, the best.
Q. What kind of promotional work are you doing for Red Jungle? It's so
hard for small presses to get the word out. Can I give you a plug?
A. Please do! Dennis (the publisher) and I do what we can do, which quite
frankly isn't much. We did a little tiny bookstore tour, but mostly it's relying
on the kindness of strangers -- word of mouth. But I believe that our way of Zen
PR works. Yes, it's not like the major publishers, but we aren't trying to
duplicate that. What we try to do is keep the flame alive for this kind of
fiction by just producing it, and let the public take it from there.
Q. Most of your work has a definite edge and sense of darkness about it. What is it about noir fiction that appeals to you?
A. People say that, and I understand, but I always wonder why. I don't think of myself as dark in outlook, I'm pretty normal in that regard. But there is no question that my themes are serious and dramatic in tone, so I can't escape being viewed as "dark" I suppose.
What I like about what is commonly called “noir” fiction in America and Europe, but “naturalist” fiction in Latin America, is that it takes the primordial forces by the horns and tries to quite literally humanize them. For example, in Madame Bovary -- probably the best noir novel ever written -- we may not like Bovary, but on many levels we can relate to her. She's a human being with faults, very much like ourselves, so we pay extra attention and relate to her faults and predicament. Oddly, we tend to reach out to noir characters, perhaps more than we would other types of characters. We want to protect them, in the way we want to protect ourselves from these primordial forces.
Q. Do you read reviews of your books?
A. Of course. But I no longer take them to heart in the way I did when I was younger. I can't, I don't want to be that close to my work anymore. I need distance. It's hard to explain, but if you don't separate yourself from your work, you'll go nuts. Mostly I've been ignored, and maybe that wasn't so bad because it allowed me to just keep working without looking over my shoulder.
Q. What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
A. God help you. Don't do it if you don't have a BURNING DESIRE to write. Don't do it because -- like I did -- you want to be someone else. If you are crazy enough to still want to do something that is this difficult and that you probably won't see a dime from, then do it. From the practical standpoint -- once you decide to write -- don't talk about it. Leave it on the page instead. And write every day. And here's the hard part: Do it even when you don't feel like it.
Q. What are your thoughts about Hollywood adapting your books? (I'd love to see what someone like Oliver Stone could do with Red Jungle on the big screen.)
A. I'm writing the screenplay for Red Jungle right now. I'd love to see that story told on the big screen. I really, really would. When you create characters, you can't help but want to see them walk around.
Q. What excites or distresses you about the crime fiction genre today?
A. What excites me is that there is a growing community of readers who are truly independent in their choices. I have been out with Red Jungle on a small tour, and I got to meet lots of just regular readers. And what is so beautiful is that people who love to read novels are looking for books like mine; in other words, they refuse to accept New York's definition of what's commercial. They just seek stuff out on their own. It is these independent readers, and independent-minded bookstore owners, who are keeping the door open for people like me.
Q. What's the last book you read?
A. Chet Baker's bio. There's a funny story about Chet Baker. I was watching the documentary on him called Let's get Lost one night. There's a moment when the interviewer asks Chet, "What was your favorite moment as an artist?" And my ears perked up because I thought wow, good question. I thought he'd talk about some piece of music or riff, “My Funny Valentine,” maybe. You know what Chet said: "Speedballs!" I just burst out laughing. He said if you got the mix just right it was the best thing in the world. He didn't mention one thing about music.
Q. What's next for you?
A. Speedballs! Just kidding. Keep writing, I guess.
Read our review of Red Jungle.
Posted by David J. Montgomery in Interviews | Permalink
Comments
David,
Good interview, and good job helping get word of Kent's work out there. This guy should have a million readers. He's just that good.
Victor
Posted by: Victor Gischler | Feb 15, 2005 10:46:05 AM
On impulse, I checked out Red Jungle at our local library in the hinterland of Wyoming and couldn't put it down. More, please!
Besides being a great work of fiction, this book opens American eyes to the cause and effect of disastrous foreign policy.
I'll never drink a Starbucks again!
Posted by: Gerry | Dec 29, 2006 12:16:29 PM
