Joseph Incardona is the author of the novel Holy F*ck, now available in an English-language translation by Sam Taylor. Incardona has written 18 novels. He lives in Geneva, Switzerland.
Q: What inspired you to write Holy F*ck, and how did you create your character Stella?
A: This novel was born from a preposterous idea — don’t ask me where it came from, or why (!) — it simply appeared one fine morning: What if a prostitute performed miracles? What if grace were to manifest itself in the very place for which Man was cast out of Paradise, for the sin of lust?
At first it struck me as absurd, a bit of a lark — and yet the idea stuck, and in the end it imposed itself: it deserved my full attention.
Looking more closely, I realised it raised a whole range of questions: our relationship to pleasure, to the body, to self-giving; to grace as something that can become a burden and a curse; to the challenge it poses to the Christian doctrine established by Paul of Tarsus, that sexuality is “permitted” only for the purposes of reproduction…
In short, behind the apparent absurdity, there are themes that run deeper than they first appear.
Stella as a figure came to me fairly quickly: a luminous young woman, with a singular beauty whose naivety sits at the crossroads of a certain kind of innocence.
She inhabits this body, possesses this power that exceeds her and that she doesn’t know how to manage. She asked for none of it, and yet it has been thrust upon her. How far can the power to heal, to relieve suffering, actually go? Her existence tilts on its axis from that moment on…
As a teenager I devoured DC and other American comics; what always fascinated me was the dark side of the superhero. And Stella is a superheroine.
Q: Elle magazine said of the book, "A little marvel. Tarantino would have loved to write this book." What do you think of that assessment?
A: First of all, it gives me great pleasure! But it’s also true that there is a kind of kinship with a certain strand of cinema, Tarantino and the Coen Brothers in particular. A case of returning the favour, you might say.
We Europeans have been steeped for decades in American pop culture: the freedom of tone, the originality, the humour, the “bigger than life” quality you do so well — all of that was fundamental to my development as a writer. It’s a blend of American influence and the Italian culture I come from, even though I live in Switzerland and write in French.
I also want to highlight the importance to me of one American writer in particular: Harry Crews. Stella is in some sense a homage to him. It’s no coincidence, after all, that the story begins in Georgia…
There is also the world of Flannery O’Connor and Carson McCullers, writers who mean so much to me… American literature and American cinema have played a major role in my literary education.
By the way, could you send a copy to Quentin?
Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: I never plan when I write. Once I’ve decided to write about a subject, I start to live with my story, to become my characters. I always start from the characters. The human being is the territory.
I have a sense of the final destination, of the journey my story will take me on. And like any journey, it remains open to detours, to sudden whims, and sometimes the final destination turns out to be quite different.
Writing, for me, means staying in direct contact with life and its uncertainties. It’s a very organic process.
What does take shape very quickly, though, is the tone of the book. I didn’t expect this one to take on that quality of irony and comedy. I imagined something more tragic, but from the very first pages I knew it would find the register of (dark) comedy.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?
A: Above all, I want them to enjoy reading it. I love the idea of a reader wanting to turn pages, of taking pleasure in continuing a novel, of never growing tired of it. I must be the millionth writer to say this, but as always, the simplest things are the hardest to achieve.
So: that they enjoy it, and that they are moved. Emotion is the trump card of art — it’s through emotion that we reach the intimate depths of the soul, that we can actually touch it (for better or worse, as it happens).
Laughter and humour are for me also a subversive way of questioning received ideas, of stepping outside conformism. I have always thought that humour is one of the supreme forms of intelligence — and also a connection between people.
And finally, if my novel gives people something to think about and helps them look at a subject differently — well, then it was worth writing!
Q: What are you working on now?
A: On a novel, of course, but I won’t say a word about it out of superstition (I am of Sicilian origin, don’t forget!). Also on a documentary project and a TV series.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: After 18 novels, Holy F*ck is my first to be translated into English. Another will follow, also with Bitter Lemon Press. I take this opportunity to thank its publisher, François Von Hurter, for his faith in me. And the translator, Sam Taylor.
You know, it is very difficult for non-anglophone Europeans to be translated and published in the English language (especially in the United States). It is therefore a real stroke of luck and a genuine joy to be read on the other side of the ocean. A way of giving something back, in a small way.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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