Hisham Matar's reading is everything an intereactive literary event should be.
Hisham Matar is a writer who can't escape his own story. Partly because he draws on it so much in his works, and partly because its highly topical. The 1990 abduction of Matar's father by the Gaddafi regime is at the heart of his writing.
As part of London Literature Festival, Matar's formative ideas are uncovered in the literary hub that is Southbank Centre where Hisham and journalist Rosie Goldsmith engage in a surprisingly light Q&A. At least it feels light. When I look at my notes this conversation is in fact, everything an interactive literary event should be.
Rosie addresses the core of Matar's work, his inspiration, his interests, his methods as well as something that seems crucial but may not be: his identity. He fills us in on his own bio, the one he wrote himself at his publisher's request. “I thought it was logical to list the places I've lived” he says “but I didn't say where I was from.” That, it seems, has been left to those writing about him. He's been called 'a writer in exile', 'a Londoner', and 'a Libyan' and as you would, Rosie tries to get him to tell us how he identifies himself. “I live in London” she begins, “I'm an exile from Cornwall,” to which he jokes: “I feel for you.” And that's all.
Those labels are unimportant in the creation of his books In the Country of Men and Anatomy of a Disappearance. While there are parallels between his story and those of his characters, Hisham maintains that the books are not about what happened to his father. “The purpose of an abduction is to retard the person and the people left behind. I am interested in that state of being, not in the story”. It's true. While his books are captivating, it's his ability to create an inescapable scene that makes his writing stand out. So when he begins to read from Anatomy of A Disappearance, it's impossible to break away from his words. His tone is low, his pace measured and the vibrant picture he paints unfolds in front of us.
The audience want to know how he writes like this. Does he know his characters well? Has he planned out the end of of his story? On his writing method he says: “It has to feel like a highwire act, like you can't go back.” But they want to know more about his themes, and his politics. His answers are concise, humble and somehow welcoming. “Politics is my reality” he explains, as if it were never a conscious decision he made. And what of the father-son relationships he writes about with such care for thier complexities? “Well, everything begins there, with the family.”
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