[Indeli Bill]
Q & A with author François Kearney
[Indeli Bill]
Q & A with author François Kearney
If you had to describe your novel Pénélope trouvera un titre (mais on pourrait appeler ça Bill) in five sentences and without footnotes, how would you do it?
It’s a multilayered novel in which the story revolves around a gallery of characters who have all used the same pen (Bill). The action begins in Asia when a lovesick Quebecker buys Bill. One thing leads to another, and the pen passes through the hands of a Radio-X [trash radio] host, a doctor, a beautician, a car salesman, a special education teacher, a checkout clerk, and others. Parallel to the story, I’ve created an overly talkative narrator who takes us behind the scenes during the writing process, with all that implies in terms of digressions, discussions with the publisher (Pénélope), negotiations with the author, and asides. The narrator’s presence makes itself felt in the many footnotes, and gives the novel its humorous tinge.
Why write about a pen?
The pen was mostly an excuse to be able to get involved in the characters’ daily lives, and to provide some kind of implicit relationship between them. Consequently, Bill represented the secret ingredient (at least, for the characters) that allowed me to build this beautiful world in one story. From a symbolic point of view, I like the idea that pens, like many objects must sometimes, no doubt, be witness to unusual things happening. By giving him a role in the story, Bill became a key witness, a kind of spy, and an accomplice, and I gave him permission to leave his written tracks in the novel. The pen’s omnipresence is also a nod to my father who, in retirement, crafted pens out of wood (the only ones I work hard to keep track of).
Who’s your favourite character? Describe them to us…
I have a weakness for Gina. We don’t have many things in common, except maybe knowing all the dialogue in the movie Hot Shots! by heart, but I think I’d get along well with her. I could have written a whole novel just about Gina. Of the bunch, her character was the easiest to write. When it came time to foster the progress of her adventures with Steeve, inspiration came to me. I’ve always had a weakness for marginal characters, funny characters, or neurotic characters like Ignatius, in A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, for example, which is one of my favourite books.
Book or author that makes you want to write? Who inspires you?
With respect to writers in Quebec, it’s the work of François Blais that has been the biggest influence on me. Otherwise, recently, the French writer Fabrice Caro, also known as a graphic novel writer has inspired me a lot (with Samouraï and Journal d’un scénario, especially). He has a particular worldview, a sense of humour, and exceptional powers of observation. I like authors that are able to describe ordinary everyday scenes while drawing us into their deepest observations. I see that in Caro’s work. It’s unremarkable and universal, all at the same time. He seems to me to be well acquainted with human nature. You find yourself thinking, and laughing, not because it’s always funny, but rather because life is exactly like that for a lot of people who like to observe, study, and deconstruct things, and who like to get lost in all the details.
Do you accept your status as an author now?
That depends on the criteria being used. From a financial standpoint, it would be far-fetched to claim that title, but when it comes to passion, or even total time devoted to writing, I think I could more easily claim to be an author, freelancer, even screenwriter. Counting the two books I’ve written under my pseudonym (Gran Talen), “Bill” will be my third novel. Does that make me an author? Maybe… But I’ve always been a writer. Writing has been a part of my life since I was a little boy. I kept writing as a teenager, and I’m still writing almost every day. Sometimes, I even wonder if I’ve written more words than I’ve spoken.
Who is Gran Talen, and what does he do for you?
He’s my trashy alter ego? My Mr. Hyde? My outlet? Very simply, Gran Talen is a redneck character I created 15 years ago or so on Facebook, who looks like Kid Rock. A mix of troll, literary caricature, and parody account that is an outlet for me to express my ideas, to experiment with various writing styles (short posts, longer stories, and even a little bit of poetry), to comment on the news, to use humour to reclaim some events, and to meet some great people. Over time, I’ve developed a world around Gran Talen, both in terms of languages and the codes I use. It’s experience that serves me in my writing.
One of these days, a story that takes place in Charlevoix: Yes or no?
I’ve already begun… I may publish some essays about experiences I had at Canadian Tire in La Malbaie over the last 15 years and, in 2024, I published a fanzine recounting my adventures at the Festif music festival (from 2014 to 2018). Before too long, I’ll have spent half my life here. Although I’m still in the habit of setting my stories in the Saguenay, where I was born, the Charlevoix area inspires me a lot; you could say it’s beauty still intimidates me a little bit. Charlevoix has a specific poetic quality. That’s probably why I haven’t yet found the ideal literary project with which to celebrate this place. I would want to make it a character in and of itself; the region deserves that: like Sébastien Dulude did for Asbestos in his novel, Amiante.
