It is one of the great if-a-tree-falls-in-the-forest scenarios in the literary world when a long-gestating book eventually becomes a success 鈥� after being turned down by two publishers 鈥� but the author does not live to see it make it to print.
Does that vindicate an author in death who did not find such satisfaction in life? Colwood author Steven Price used the process of writing his new novel, Lampedusa, as a way of better understanding this complex query, and what could potentially go through the mind of an author who is screeching toward the intersection of art and life.
Price鈥檚 novel blends fact and fiction around the life of Italian author Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, whose only book, The Leopard (Il Gattopardo), was published to great acclaim in 1958, one year after Tomasi died of lung cancer.
Though Tomasi could not find a publisher interested in releasing the book when he was alive, it has never been out of print in 50-plus years, and remains Italy鈥檚 top-selling novel. 鈥淏ut he wasn鈥檛 alive to see it,鈥� Price said, during an interview. 鈥淚s that artistic success or is that artistic failure? He died thinking that it was never going to be published.鈥�
Price鈥檚 novel connects the lives of two key princes, only one of whom 鈥� Tomasi 鈥� is real. The prince at the centre of The Leopard was a fictional character based in part on Tomasi鈥檚 great-grandfather, Don Giulio Fabrizio Tomasi, one in a line of minor princes in Sicily. Giuseppe Tomasi was the last member of his family to carry the title of prince, and when his family鈥檚 longstanding palace near Palermo was bombed during the Allied invasion of Sicily, he began writing The Leopard as a means of preserving his family鈥檚 legacy.
Asked if the book being published scored a victory for Tomasi, Price replied:鈥淲hat does success look like for an artist? In his case, it鈥檚 such a fraught question, because he produced this beautiful novel at the end of his life. He tried to get it published and it was rejected twice. He died 10 days after receiving the last rejection. It鈥檚 easy to understand, as an artist, the despair that you feel when this thing that you have put so much effort into, and that you yourself believe in, is not going to get a fair reception.鈥�
Price鈥檚 previous novel, 2016鈥檚 By Gaslight, was met with unanimous praise, and was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. The national bestseller quickly established Price as one of sa国际传媒鈥檚 top writers. There is pressure with Lampedusa to repeat his previous success, but Victoria-born Price was casual and calm about it during our interview. At a Metchosin coffeeshop, not far from the home he shares with his wife, author Esi Edugyan, and their children, Cleo and Maddox, he spoke with confidence about the nature of Lampedusa, and how he knew it was time for this particular story to come alive.
鈥淵ou start to learn a little bit about your own process as you go, and I鈥檓 coming to think that I鈥檓 a writer who works best when I can see the form or the shape the storytelling needs to take.
鈥淚鈥檇 admired The Leopard for years and re-read it many times, and I knew about his life a little bit, and I was reading through The Leopard at one point, and I could not only see how his prince, his main character, resembled him, but how the last years of his life while he was writing The Leopard fit so beautifully the actual structure and shape of the novel he鈥檇 written. You could almost remove part of that novel and plug in a part of his life. As soon as I saw that shape, I could see the book.鈥�
The slow, sometimes laborious, process of bringing a book to life is the ultimate hurry-up-and-wait exercise, Price said. The writing and editing of his new novel took two years, almost from the time his publicity tour for By Gaslight wound to a halt. Price said he has already begun writing his next book, even though the promotion of Lampedusa is barely underway.
The book, in stores Aug. 31, will bring Price to Munro鈥檚 Books for a launch party on Sept. 18. He will be happy to finally see some forward momentum, having done his last edit on Lampedusa in April.
鈥淏ooks take so long to reach this point. You live with it for a year, and when you鈥檙e pretty much finished, there鈥檚 still a year of final edits and copy edits, and proof-reading before it goes into production. By the time you hit this point, a lot of writers are already started a new project. You鈥檙e alone with the work for a really long time and then, by the time you鈥檙e no longer alone with it, you鈥檝e moved on.鈥�
Price changed gears with Lampedusa from the large, plot-heavy By Gaslight. It was a refreshing change, to tackle an era (1950s Sicily) and topic (the lion-in-winter phase of a writer exhaling his final roar) with so many pathways on which to travel.
Price, who taught in the University of Victoria鈥檚 writing department for 10 years, has done his share of editing, but he relied on the skills of his editor at Penguin Random House sa国际传媒, Martha Kanya-Forstner, to help keep Lampedusa on track. He also found Edugyan to be of great help, having performed the same service for her during the writing of her novels.
鈥淧art of what you see in your own work are all the ghost paths you didn鈥檛 take, all the choices you were faced with. You chose X instead of Y, but Y is always existing there. It鈥檚 harder to see a solid shape that you can work with. When someone presents you with their manuscript, and you鈥檙e reading it, all you have is what is in front of you. It鈥檚 so much easier to see exactly how it鈥檚 working.鈥�
Price took liberties and wrote what Tomasi could potentially have been thinking when his life neared its end. That was the intriguing part for Price 鈥� to explore the what-ifs and why-nots many authors feel while writing a book. That Tomasi鈥檚 final product has become one of the most celebrated books in history made the exploration all the more fascinating, Price said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not that this lacks plot, but the plot is attached to the biography of a person who has already lived. I could see the form. As soon as I could see the parallel between the work of art that he created and his own life, it seemed like it was making some interesting link or connection or commentary about art and life, and how life is reflected in the art and vice versa.
鈥淪ometimes, a book feels like a long, flat thing that is laid out in front of you, and I think it鈥檚 really valuable for the writer to know what is three-quarters of the way down the line.
鈥淚n my experience, knowing the end is not always valuable. You don鈥檛 want the book to be written before you dive in.鈥�
