Q&A with Stéphane Carlier

 

Photo by Claire Deweggis

Stéphane Carlier is the author of the new novel Clara Reads Proust, translated from French to English by Polly Mackintosh. He has written seven other novels. He lives in France.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Clara Reads Proust, and how did you create your character Clara?

 

A: I find that I only really understand what inspired me to write a book once I’ve finished writing it. I was able to grasp the deeper meaning of this book after its publication.

 

I think that, essentially, I wanted to show that in this world, with its overwhelming ugliness and idiocy, we can still find beauty, intelligence, and things that are worthwhile.

 

As for the character of Clara, she is the equivalent of the narrator in In Search of Lost Time: a blank sheet of paper where a story can be written. She needed to be a little unassuming, and a little neutral, without any strong character traits, so that the impact of Proust and his masterpiece can really be felt.

      

Q: What impact did reading Proust have on you?

 

A: A huge impact. It’s really quite something to discover such a writer, who has great style and great intelligence at the same time.

 

When I read him for the first time, at the age of 19, I really had the sense that I had found a friend. I wasn’t interested in everything he wrote about, but the parts I understood dazzled me. His attention to detail amazed me. His underrated sense of humour really made an impact on me, too. 

    

Q: Le Parisien called the book a “sumptuous homage to reading in which the writer deftly depicts provincial life with humour and affection.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I think that’s about right. It’s important that the book is set somewhere other than Paris. So many French novels take place in Paris, which makes sense, since so many French writers live there.

 

But I live in Burgundy. When you look at a map of France, Burgundy is right where the heart is! I don’t think there is any region more French than Burgundy. So it made sense that I placed Cindy Coiffure there. The book would not have worked if Clara had been from Paris.  

 

It’s a tribute to the power of books, of course, but more than that, it’s the story of a young woman who reinvents herself, which few of us manage to do. 

     

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: The epigraph is a quote by Virginia Woolf – she says that the most important thing is a person to find their own dimensions, to not let themselves be impeded. Don’t be the person that the world you’ve grown up in expects you to be. Don’t be afraid to go where you’re not expected to go. You’ll be more likely to flourish here.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: The novel I wrote after Clara Reads Proust, which is called Life Is Not a Novel by Susan Cooper, came out on 4th April in France. It depicts a British novelist who lives in Paris – an author of mystery novels. She is just preparing to go to Monaco to collect a prize when she receives a message from a reader who tells her that she has killed a man. 

 

It’s a murder-mystery comedy, which I really enjoyed writing. Among other things, it’s a tribute to England, to its spirit and its sense of humour, which I’m very attached to. I love Alan Bennett, Jonathan Coe, Ian McEwan, but also Ricky Gervais, the Monty Python films, and Absolutely Fabulous: I couldn’t live without them!  

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I miss London! I’d so love to go for a wander there this morning. I’m currently rereading Mrs. Dalloway and I’m realising how much I’d love to walk beside her in Bond Street!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb