Q&A with Jane Hamilton

  

 

 

Jane Hamilton is the author of the novel The Phoebe Variations, now available in paperback. Her other books include the novel A Map of the World. She lives in Wisconsin. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Phoebe Variations, and how did you create your character Phoebe Hudson?

 

A: I went to see Twelfth Night with the great Mark Rylance. In the middle of the play, he asks the question of the boy in drag, “What is your parentage?” 

 

I got home, and that question was vibrating in my mind. I don’t have any doubt about who my parents were—they were terrific parents—but, I started to think about how complicated the question can actually be. (For many people now especially exploring their gene pool!) 

 

I lived with Phoebe for 10 years. (On and off.) A book starts with a voice, and hers was with me right away as I thought about a teenager who has a shattering experience with her birth family. 

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Phoebe and her friend Luna?

 

A: Complicated!  But, when they are girls, Phoebe considers the relationship pure, one of pure love and friendship. She doesn’t think about the fact that there might be a power dynamic at work. Luna is from a wealthy family; Phoebe lives across the tracks with a single mother in a time when in the suburbs single mothers were rare. 

 

What does Phoebe get from Luna? What does Luna get from Phoebe? Those are some of the questions the book explores.

 

Q: The writer Stephen McCauley called the book a “wildly original story about every kind of love imaginable.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: Oh, what a lovely man Stephen McCauley is! I am terrible at describing my own work, so I think this is a perfectly wonderful elevator pitch. 

 

Q: Music is an important theme in the novel--why did you decide to include that?

 

A: For one thing, including music in a novel means you should listen to the music at hand. So, that’s a perk of the job. 

 

As for Phoebe: Phoebe is a person who is very alone. She is a talented pianist. Not at the concert pianist level, but still, she has a life in music. Music is the thing for her, besides the love of her son, that makes life bearable. That gives meaning to life: this mysterious beautiful creation.

 

I have a friend who says, “I don’t believe in God, but…when I listen to music, I start to think, hmmm, maybe there is a god.” So, I wanted to give a slice of god to Phoebe, a great portion of beauty, and a reason to love the world. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: A book about two sisters. It’s short. I took something I’d written before and compressed it. Will it be published? Who knows? I loved writing it very much. I love the sisters more than I can say. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: There’s a great coffee shop in my town. Rochester, WI. Come to DW COFFEE!!! (It’s closed on Mondays.)

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb