Scala Radio Book Club: The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor
From the author of the Booker Prize-shortlisted novel, Real Life
Last updated 22nd Jun 2023
Penny Smith welcomed Brandon Taylor, author of the Booker Prize-shortlisted novel, Real Life, into the Scala Radio Book Club on the 22nd of June to discuss his latest novel, The Late Americans.
In the shared and private spaces of Iowa City, a loose circle of lovers and friends encounter, confront and provoke one another in a volatile year of self-discovery. At the group’s centre are Ivan, a dancer turned aspiring banker who dabbles in amateur pornography; Fatima, whose independence and work ethic complicate her relationships with friends and a trusted mentor; and Noah, who ‘didn’t seek sex out so much as it came up to him like an anxious dog in need of affection.’
These three are buffeted by a cast of poets, artists, landlords, meat-packing workers and mathematicians who populate the cafés, classrooms and food-service kitchens of Iowa City, sometimes to violent and electrifying consequences. Finally, as each prepares for an uncertain future, the group heads to a cabin to bid goodbye to their former lives – a moment of reckoning that leaves them all irrevocably altered.
Penny Smith opened the interview by asking Brandon Taylor about the title of his novel: ‘Why is it called The Late Americans? What are they late for?’
‘I suppose they're late for all sorts of things. I think the title refers to the sense that there are many Americans who feel that they've arrived too late to partake in many aspects of the so-called “American project”, upward mobility and class migration and stuff like that. Many of us feel this overwhelming sense of precarity and what previous generations tout as “The Great American Project” of “anyone can make it as long as they work hard”. That doesn't quite feel like a reality for us. But it also refers to another sense of cultural lateness that we're arriving too late to partake in institutions like religion or monogamy or the things that have given American society its shape for so many generations now feel either antiquated or like things that are inaccessible to us. And so, you arrive and you're in early middle age, and I feel like I've arrived just as the party is ending.’
Penny Smith followed this by questioning Brandon Taylor on the themes in The Late American: ‘It's quite a lot about class and money and relationships that aren't equal, would you say that is true?’
‘Yes. I would say that that's very true, and I think part of the project of the book is to illuminate that in every relationship there are these dynamics, there are these hierarchies, and it's not that it's always one way, but that every relationship is really a matrix of these inequalities and inequities and a lot of the power, balance and relationships has to do with: “when are we going to acknowledge the inequity on my side versus always acknowledging it on your side?” And you can at any moment find yourself upside down and loving someone doesn't preclude those things.’
Penny Smith asked Brandon Taylor about what he listens to when he is writing: ‘Do you write with music on in the background or not? Are you one of those people who just has to have absolute silence?’
‘I need music in the background. I love playing music in the background. I used to listen mostly to music with lyrics when I was a little younger, and now I mostly listen to instrumental or classical music, and I have this inside joke with a few of my friends that the greatest tool in a writer's arsenal is Philip Glass' soundtrack to The Hours. That, for whatever reason, is a weapons-grade arsenal for writer's block. It seems to work wonders.’
Penny Smith wanted to know if Brandon Taylor has a play in the works: ‘A review in the New York Times said: “I hope he's working on a play”. Are you?’
‘I am working on a play, that was such a delightful and pleasing line to me because I love plays and I'm working on a play that is, a sort of homage and perhaps a retelling of Kate Chopin's, The Awakening that follows the lives of her sons after she kills herself in the Gulf of Mexico. I've always been so curious about what happens to those two boys in that incredibly closed Catholic community in 19th century, Louisiana. I've always found that to be such an interesting after-effect. And so, I'm exploring writing a play about them that will be a follow-on to The Awakening.’
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