Mark Mustian is the author of the new novel Boy with Wings. His other books include The Gendarme. He is the founder of the Word of South Festival of Literature and Music in Tallahassee, and he lives in Florida and in Michigan.
Q: What inspired you to write Boy with Wings, and how did you create your character Johnny?
A: I’ve thought about writing a novel involving sideshows for some time, after seeing the 1932 Tod Browning movie Freaks and reading Katherine Dunn’s great novel Geek Love. I wanted to set it in the South, where I’m from, and to take on the issues of race and religion that so define our lives here.
More than anything else, though, in creating the character of Johnny I wanted to focus on what it’s like to be different. One might ask what Mark Mustian, a white male born in this country in this time to upper-middle class parents who loved him, knows about being different, but I’ve tried to touch the place I think almost everyone knows: that feeling of being on the outside, looking in.
Q: How did you research the novel, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?
A: I read everything I could find on sideshows, and particularly the “freaks”—the true oddities of nature—that populated these attractions. I went to the Showmen’s Museum in Riverview, Florida; I watched the movies Nightmare Alley, The Greatest Showman, and others; I read the memoirs of and watched documentaries about those who ran and starred in these shows. I read Leslie Fiedler’s book Freaks, which delves into the psychology of why physical oddities attract and repel us.
One of the interesting things about 20th century sideshows is the mixture of fakery and true oddity most put forth; for example, the “two-headed aborted fetuses” that were really pieces of twisted sponge featured next to the man actually and completely covered with hair.
It was surprising to learn that, in the view of the showmen, the audience really didn’t mind being conned, so long as there was a bit of humor or unexpectedness mixed in with it.
Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: I toyed with some other titles; for instance, I thought about just using Johnny’s full name, which is Johnny Cruel. But in the end, I decided that “Boy With Wings” was a little more descriptive and perhaps evocative of the story I was trying to tell. I wanted to evoke the initial impression of oddity that the sideshow provides—of something not quite of this world.
There’s a religious element to the novel that I sought to capture as well, as certain of Johnny’s fellow performers and others seem almost to worship him, whereas others scorn him or brand him a sign of the Devil. It reflects a long history of how others have viewed human oddities, both venerating and fearing things and people that they didn’t understand.
Q: The writer Katy Simpson Smith said of the book, “In sentences that are equally primal and poetic, Mustian transports us through the shacks, camps, circuses, and back alleys of the Depression-era South, asking a still-resonant question: What's the price of belonging in a society that's already broken?” What do you think of that description?
A: I think it’s an apt description (and I’m very grateful to Katy for giving it!). The best historical fiction speaks of today as well as the historical period, and I hope Boy With Wings helps focus on what it means (and what it’s like) to be different.
It’s not hard to see current examples of people who are “off the norm” being singled out, mocked or ridiculed because they’re not the same as everyone else. Our country’s Constitution and Bill of Rights were designed to protect the individual from the cruelty of the majority, and yet there’s a brutishness that still exists toward oddness in many ways.
One of the benefits of being a writer trained as a lawyer (as I am) is that we’re taught that everyone has a viewpoint and a legitimate story to tell. I’ve tried to do that in this book, to put myself into the hearts and minds of people who can’t blend in even if they try.
We have a woman in our church transitioning from man to woman who told me recently that her day started by a man pulling up next to her at the bus stop and shouting that he hated her and wished she were dead. It takes guts to be different. That’s what I’ve tried to portray.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Another piece of historical fiction. I’ve wanted to write a novel from the point of view of a woman for some time, and I’ve stumbled upon the most amazing story of a strong and resourceful woman who was also blind (like most of us) to her own flaws.
She lived in an era of history I knew almost nothing about, so I’ve been immersed in quite a bit of research.
I’m superstitious about saying much else about it, but hopefully it will follow the success of Boy With Wings.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I’m the founder and president of the Word of South Festival of Literature and Music in Tallahassee, Florida (now in our 11th year!), where we combine authors and musicians in all sorts of interesting ways. You all should come down!
We’ve featured artists ranging from James McBride (with his band!) to Sheila E to George Clinton to Ann Patchett to Jason Isbell. It’s a lot of fun and quite different in its own right, and it’s broadened my perspective of music and writing and the relationship between the two.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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