M. Laszlo is the author of the new book The Phantom Glare of Day, which consists of three novellas. He lives in Bath, Ohio.
Q: What inspired you to write The Phantom Glare of Day, and what do you see as the relationship among the three novellas?
A: Yikes. Those are difficult questions. Ultimately, the thing that inspired me was a sincere wish to tackle the idea of public morals.
With regard to the relationship between the three novellas, the thing that binds the point-of-view characters is that the three young women complement one another and form an ironically estranged kind of sisterhood. Each one struggles in her own way with a handful of the big issues.
In addition, all three women live at the same hotel in London and then seek to run away from their problems by moving to some other locale. That’s the type of thing that many people do—but of course, the act of running away never works.
Q: How did you create your characters Sophie, Cäcilia, and Manon?
A: Each one is a composite. Sophie is an homage to all the really mysterious Goth females of my youth. I had a good friend who loved The Cure and almost always dressed like a really appealing vampire woman—the kind you see in Hammer-House-of-Horror movies. My summer in London also provided ample opportunities to come into contact with interesting young women like that.
Cäcilia, the ice skater, follows from my teenage obsession with Katarina Witt. On the other hand, Cäcilia’s fascination with the abortion debate really comes from my mother. She was raised as a devout Catholic, and then she became a registered nurse. Ultimately, as the 1960s passed by, she became increasingly liberal-minded and sensitive on the issue. Anyway, it’s always a good idea to put your mom into at least one of your works.
Finally, Manon is my most complicated composite character. She is comprised of many of my progressive and lesbian classmates at Sarah Lawrence College. Just about every single one of them was obsessed with the Israel/Palestine issue. In addition, that issue came up a great deal during my youthful travels. It’s difficult to write about the Middle East, but Manon gave me a way to do it.
Q: How was the book's title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: The love of poetry pretty much predetermined the title. It comes from a poem entitled “Butterflies” by World War I veteran Siegfried Sassoon. Is there any better subject for a poem than butterflies? I doubt it.
At any rate, the butterflies in Sassoon’s poem have always served to remind me of World War I-era Zeppelins. There is no way to explain this. It’s just a very ironic association that has always felt right to me. At any rate, the title comes from this beautiful stanza:
“And they are as my soul that wings its way
Out of the starlit dimness into morn:
And they are as my tremulous being—born
To know but this, the phantom glare of day.”
Q: Did you need to do any research to write the book, and if so, did you learn anything that especially surprised you?
A: It was important to do some research, and much of the most crucial information came from rereading passages in A.J.P. Taylor’s War by Timetable. Every time a person reads or rereads that book or any other reputable work on the period, the most surprising thing is just how great the German national spirit was.
Let’s not forget, too, that the war pretty much ended with the German revolution and the rise of the Weimar Republic. Perhaps the greatest tragedy of the Great War is that instead of embracing that democracy, the English and French reparations committees resolved to destroy Germany’s economy. Not a good idea!
Q: What are you working on now?
A: My next work will be a full-length novel about a Faustian chap who seeks to unravel the riddle of the universe. Specifically, he wants to learn the origins of the cosmos and to grasp the purpose of civilization. In the end, he does learn it all—and he explains everything.
Some readers might scoff at his conclusions, but I feel confident that many will see something great in what he learns—and many readers will learn from it. In so doing, those readers should feel a sense of real liberation because there’s nothing more emancipating than epiphany and/or the idea of really understanding the world around us.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Please know that I’m thankful for this opportunity, Deborah. And please keeping doing what you do!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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