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Jay Merill’s first short story collection Astral Bodies was nominated for the
Frank O’Connor Award. She lives in central London and is the recipient
of an Arts Council England Award allowing her to devote more time to
writing.
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Interview
with Jay Merill
The
Short Review:
How long did it take you to write all the stories in your collection?
Jay Merill:
There’s
a huge variation. God of the Pigeons for example, evolved over
a number of years, the focus changing several times. Gullies and
Time was the first focus, the final one was the symbol of the
pigeon’s wing. Beauty Queens was written very quickly, in
about a week, and had hardly any changes; and the same with Riddle.
TSR:
Did you
have a collection in mind when you were writing them?
JM:
I
didn’t write the stories as a collection as such, but it felt that
they belonged together.
TSR:
How did
you choose which stories to include and in what order?
JM: The stories seemed connected and I had little doubt about forming a collection with them. Again, the order
seemed obvious. I knew that God of the Pigeons with its easy answer should come first and lead on to the rest of the flock of stories and that Riddle,
with its existential question, would be the final story. And the
stories in between followed from one to the other in some kind of
organic way.
TSR:
What
does the word "story"
mean to you?
JM:
The
word Story suggests a crystal to me. It evokes the idea of symmetry.
I think of a central point; I think of mirror images; twinning.
Something is concluded. But there is more than one model perhaps.
I’ve thought of saw-like edges, serrated and ragged, maybe finer at
one end, bolder at the other. A coming closer to; a moving away from;
final severance. Aesthetically pleasing or aesthetically disturbing.
TSR:
Do you have a reader in mind when you write stories?
JM:
No.
Stories are my way of working through ideas.
TSR: Is
there
anything you'd like to ask someone who has read your collection, anything at all?
JM: I’d
be happy to have a dialogue with anyone who wants to talk to me about
any of the stories. I don’t have
anything
specific I’d like to ask them.
TSR: How does
it feel knowing that people are buying your book?
JM:
I’d
be delighted to know people were buying my books. I’d be interested
in hearing their thoughts.
TSR:
What are you working on now?
JM: Another
short story collection.
TSR:
What are
the three most recent short story collections you've read?
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