(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The writer of Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell was in Dubai for 48 hours to speak at the Emirates Airline Literature Festival. Nivriti Butalia met him for a chat over green tea.
"It paid for the house," David Mitchell says about his most well-known 2004 sci-fi novel, Cloud Atlas € six stories about the past and the future and the predacity therein. Cloud Atlas went on to become a Hollywood film starring seasoned actors, Jim Broadbent, Susan Sarandon, Tom Hanks, and among others, Halle Berry.
His sixth novel The Bone Clocks was longlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize.
Science fiction skeptics such as the reporter who met him were shown a ray of light when he said that in the past, some of our present today activities - talking on Skype, into a machine - would have been 'science-fiction'.
Mitchell has spent years teaching English in Japan. He has also taught in Italy. He prefers to not travel for book tours and literary festival in some seasons. Domesticity requires for him to be home with his wife and two children over the winter.
During his session at the festival called 'Writing Other Worlds', Mitchell disagreed with the view of fellow-panelist Lauren Oliver who called writing 'painful'. Mitchell gently introduced a little perspective: painful is someone working in a T-shirt making sweatshop in the third world.
Before he went on stage, during an hour-long one-on-one conversation, Mitchell spoke of how he is "a tea geek", to the day dreams of his daughter, and how Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' is as effortless as the drama series House of Cards.
Excerpts from the interview:
So you arrived in Dubai yesterday, first time.
Yes. Yes. First time. Am a bit woozy. For years people have been saying you must watch The Sopranos, you must watch The Sopranos. And I had the box set on the in-flight. So first I watched Birdman, which was wonderful. And then I started watching The Sopranos. I know I should have been trying to sleep but it was only about midnight - 1 O'clock clock UK time, or in Irish time. So I arrived with my head full of the Sopranos (laughs). And you can see how it's influenced The Wire and things that have come since. And even things like Mad Men.
You're obviously a drama series enthusiast.
Very, very selectively. We don't have a TV at home. We just have DVDs. I haven't really started Apple TV or Netflix or anything like this. I'm still stuck in 2002. I'm still getting DVDS. My friends laugh. But the best of the best or the most addictive, so Game of Thrones and Mad Men I'm slowly I'm working through House. They're very formulaic. But I can watch one a month. It's my indulgence on Friday nights. Saturday nights. I don't really go out much. I don't go out to the pub. So I reward myself.. oh and Breaking Bad, as well.
I was going to ask you about House of Cards but you've more than answered my question.
House of Cards, Game of Thrones, I often confuse the two. House of thrones or game of cards" (laughs)
Best writing in a drama series on TV, any generation, any period?
You have to find individual episodes. I can't say.. let's swap. This is fun.
Ok. I love political dramas. House of Cards, most recently. But I think Seinfeld trumps everything.
I've watched Seinfeld on planes when there's not enough time to watch a movie and I have 80 minutes for touch down. I agree. The writing of course is very intelligent, I agree.
The set pieces in House of cards.. there's some stunning pieces. I still remember the bit where Kevin Spacey is addressing the church in about the second episode of season one. A kid has died. And he's there as a politician and there's some antagonism towards him in the church. The way he acknowledges that and turns it around " I replayed it three or four times just to get the musicality of the speech.
So you re-watch?
It's worth having box sets and DVDS, just for this reason. I like to study them. Good writing is good writing, (regardless of) where it's from or who did it or what the format is.
And you enjoyed 'Birdman'?
Very much. It was fabulous. I'm still watching it now in my mind. The difference between a four-star film that you forget the next day and a five-star film... you wake up the next day and you're still thinking about it (the five-star film).
Arab writers in the region. It's your first time here. But are there authors from here whose works you're familiar with or would recommend or like to get to know?
Oh it would be arrogant of me. I am just a beginner here.. But does Orhan Pahmuk count? I think he's great.
Have you had time to go around the city?
Absolutely not. (laughs) I'm experiencing a Dubai hotel. Not really experiencing the city. But, but - it's still exposure. I had a great tip from my friend Pico Iyer - have you met him? The world knows Pico Iyer, it's amazing!. It's not 6 degrees of separation; it's 2 € um, but Pico said, 'don't fight jet lag, use it'. So instead of lying there trying to get some sleep, get up and go downstairs and have a chat with the concierge who is often Indian especially in the graveyard shift at night" strike up a conversation. There's a person who helps with the taxis here.. called Sanjeev? And there was a guy in the restaurant last night, forgot his name, but he was from Kathmandu, studied hotel management"he was here on a temporary basis to earn as much money as he can to climb up the ladder and remit money back home. And that's a life, and just a window into global capitalism. Even though it's not Dubai, it's a hotel in Dubai. But human beings everywhere have stories.
As a reader, what is your patience level with a book? How often do you put a book down half way?
Um, I never used to. I used to think that I made a pact to finish. But at about age 40 you realise life is pretty short, isn't it. (laughs) So now by about page 50.. if it isn't ignited by then then I don't think it ever will. But this is with contemporary stuff. For stuff that is been in print 50 years, that's no accident. Even if it is slow-going, like Vanity Fair € the novel, not the magazine € you just know it's a classic. It's going to be worthwhile so you stick with it. You are allowed certain allergies to certain authors. D.H. Lawrence. I know he's brilliant. I know it's my problem. But I won't be annoyed with myself if I die without ever having completed a D.H Lawrence. However, I have Marcus Aurelius just waiting on my bookshelf"
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