Author Interview: Tom McCarthy of Remainder
by the view from here magazine on March 06, 2008
Originally posted at: The View From Here
tags: interview, men in space, remainder, tom mccarthy,Leave a comment
I thought I’d kick this interview off with Tom’s agent Jonny Pegg from Curtis Brown. I asked him about Tom and he had this to say:
It’s been a joy to see Tom’s talents recognized, but I’m most excited about what’s to come. Tom combines genuine originality with a passion for the big ideas of art, philosophy, science and literature, and to me this promises an oeuvre rich in both trademark qualities and new directions. Having seen a little of his work in progress, I can say ‘watch this space’ with confidence.
Tom McCarthy is the author of Remainder and recently Men in Space, he has also written TinTin and the Secret of Literature, a non fiction book.
When did you start writing?
When I was very young. My mother told me the story of Macbeth and I thought: that’s great, I’ll write it. So I borrowed a neighbour’s typewriter and wrote ‘Macbeth, by Tom McCarthy’. The neighbour said: ‘Shouldn’t it be ‘by William Shakespeare?’ and I asked: ‘Why?’ I was right. Someone wrote Macbeth before Shakespeare too. I don’t think I finished my version; somewhere around Act II I went and played outside instead.
How did you feel about Metronome’s response, “If people want it, they can go to the ICA.” to Waterstones request to stock Remainder?
Metronome Press was an art project, run by two curators, launched firmly from within the art world and its networks. Having one foot in that world myself, I’d noticed that that was the environment in which people actually read proper literature rather than the latest Booker/Richard-and-Judy crap. So I was happy for them to take that stance. Perhaps at the time I wasn’t, but in retrospect I thought it was pretty cool; and as it worked out, bigger publishers would bring out their own editions of Remainder later and put them in Waterstones and every other shop. The Metronome edition was just a limited run thing anyway.
Read the whole interview at The View From Here
This post has been viewed (on this page) 297 times .
