Susan Stokes-Chapman is the author of the novel Pandora. She is based in Wales.
Q: What inspired you to write Pandora, and how did you create your characters Dora and Edward?
A: Both Dora and Hermes popped into my head fully formed, and the myth of Pandora’s Box sort of came up alongside it. I knew I wanted to combine them somehow, so set initially to researching the myth.
On disappearing down a Google rabbit-hole I discovered that Pandora’s box was never a box at all, but a vase! It turns out that “box” was a mistranslation, courtesy of the 16th-century philosopher Erasmus. When he translated Hesiod’s tale of Pandora into Latin, the word pithos (a large storage jar or vase) was translated into the Latin word pyxis, meaning “box.”
All I needed to do then was find a way to get an ancient and potentially magical vase over to 18th-century England!
I set then to researching antiquity in the Georgian period, whereupon I came across the name William Hamilton who was a collector of Greek vases, having collected many of them during his 35 years living in Naples.
In 1798 when a French invasion seemed imminent, he decided to pack off his vase collection to England for safety. Ironically, some of this collection went down with the naval ship HMS Colossus off the Scilly Isles. It was this historical fact that allowed me to place the mystical Pandora’s “Box” into the Georgian London.
In terms of Dora as a character, I knew I wanted her to be a jewellery designer with a pet magpie, I knew she had to be an orphan, and that she had to live in an antique shop.
I also knew Dora had to be a fiery and stubborn young woman, fighting to find her place in the world. I wanted a heroine who could be immediately likeable, who could evoke sympathy, but who was also a strong character in her own right.
She’s completely reliant on Hezekiah and she has no money of her own, so the odds are heavily stacked against her, but she thrives anyway.
Even so, she definitely evolved from the original Dora I’d created in my head; over the course of editing the novel I actually came to realise how similar I am to Dora – we’ve both felt trapped by circumstance, we’ve both struggled to find recognition for our creativity, and we’ve both had to be determined and unrelenting to fulfil our dreams, so she really is a character very close to my heart and I think bringing her to life on the page was a series of subconscious choices.
When it comes to Edward, he actually came in much later. I’d written about 10 chapters of the novel before I realised the story couldn’t be carried by Dora alone. By this time I’d already decided that the Society of Antiquaries was going to feature in the story, so it made sense to create a character who linked to it.
Edward also needed to complement Dora, and though their histories are very different they have very similar story arcs – they essentially want the same things, which is to be recognised by a society that would seek to curtail their ambition, and they work really well as a team to overcome all the obstacles put in their way.
It was incredibly satisfying to bring Edward and Dora to life and watch them grow together over the writing process.
Q: Can you say more about how you researched the novel, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?
A: I’d lived in London before so knew the city well, but the bulk of my research came in the form of extensive reading, which is always an eye-opener! Surprise, though, is probably not the right term to use in this instance.
I will say that in the 18th-century there was a distinct divide between the concept of “legal” acquisition of antiquities (the excavations made by William Hamilton, for instance) and the acquisition of antiquities on the black market. However, both types of acquisition were technically stealing, so there are lots of ethical implications concerning that.
There are also interesting parallels between contemporary attitudes to possession of foreign property. It just goes to show how history can teach us, still, about the modern world!
Q: The Washington Post said of the book, “With a nod to Pandora’s mythical box, Stokes-Chapman artfully imagines a world where greed, violence and hatred have run rampant, and envisions their ramifications for a disadvantaged young woman trying to find her way.” What do you think of that description?
A: I think it is very generous, and lovely to receive such high praise! It’s always interesting to hear what other people think of the novel, and always a relief when they have identified in some form or another just what you were trying to achieve with it.
Q: Why did you choose late-18th century London as the setting for your novel, and how important is setting to you in your work?
A: My first since-shelved novel focused on the real-life love affair between William Hazlitt and Sarah Walker (more info can be found on my website). It was set in 1820s Holborn, so I’d already done a lot of research into Georgian London before Pandora even popped into my head. It made sense, then, to use that prior knowledge so as not to waste it.
In terms of setting, all I know is that I feel the place has to make sense to the story itself, and what I am trying to tell. For Pandora, London just worked! As for my second novel (see below), that would not have worked anywhere else except Wales.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am just coming to the finishing touches of my second novel, The Shadow Key. It is based in rural Wales in 1783, and a novel which has been on my mind since 2006! My connection to Wales is longstanding and I knew that one day I would write a novel set within the beautiful, lush landscape of the country which I now call home.
The Shadow Key is a story of faith and family bonds, elitism and exploitation, and the power of friendship to surmount evil. It’s my love letter to Wales, and while in comparison to Pandora it is darker, I hope my readers will fall in love with Linette and Henry’s story.
I have also started the first tentative forays into researching my third novel, another 18th-century Gothic tale but this time set in Prague…
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I can’t think of anything, except to say stay tuned for bookish news! My website is www.susanstokeschapman.com and I can be found on both Twitter(X) and Instagram on the handle @SStokesChapman.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
No comments:
Post a Comment