Cornflower in conversation with Madeline Miller

    I mentioned yesterday that Madeline Miller, author of the acclaimed The Song of Achilles, was to be in Edinburgh briefly for a bookshop event. Although this is a flying visit for her, I got the chance to meet her this morning for a private chat over coffee, and I'm so glad I did because what a delight she is!

   We talked of many bookish things including what has influenced her writing and, fascinatingly, her book's gestation. An interest in Ancient Greek culture stemming from childhood visits to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, and an ear for the epic tales of Homer, read to her by her mother at bedtime, sowed the seeds of her love of the classics, seeds which have flowered by way of a teaching career and now a major work of fiction - a re-telling of the story of Achilles, Patroclus and the Trojan War.

    Ten years in the making, Madeline's book is testament to a philosophy of rigorous refinement. She says she spent the first eight years 'essaying': writing and rejecting much of what she wrote, constantly editing, eventually finding her voice, and then from the material she had so patiently assembled, producing the novel as such in two years. She pays tribute to the friends who were trustworthy, sensitive critics at that time, and she says that enforced breaks away from her work to concentrate on her teaching commitments meant that she would come back to the page with a fresh eye, able to spot flaws and cut or polish as necessary.

    Madeline is a great admirer of Ann Patchett's work, and we discussed her essay/memoir on writing, The Getaway Car, in which, among many pieces of sound advice to the aspiring writer, she says "Art stands on the shoulders of craft, which means that to get to the art, you must master the craft. If you want to write, practise writing ..." [this post made a similar point], and "Novel writing is like channel swimming: a slow and steady stroke over a long distance in a cold, dark sea. If I thought too much about how far I'd come or the distance I still had to cover, I'd sink." Madeline herself had read somewhere that a novelist has to get ten million words down on the page before they can really start writing (she says the exact quotation may be ten thousand words, but in her case it was more like ten million!).

    We went on to talk about the influences on her writing, and these were not just favourite books but works from which she had learned 'how it's done', writers whose mastery of craft produced art. Virgil's The Aeneid was an early example, then on to Richard Adams' Watership Down; David Mitchell is there as is Ann Patchett, as I've said, and Barbara Kingsolver. Donna Tartt's The Secret History makes this list for its "authority and audacity", as does John Updike's Gertrude And Claudius, the book which shows the power of a literary re-telling. For practical advice on writing and the publishing business, Madeline highly recommends The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers by Betsy Lerner.

    As to current reading, Madeline's very much enjoying George Eliot's Middlemarch  and A.S. Byatt's latest book Ragnarok: the End of the Gods while under 'current writing', let's just say that she's looking at Homer, but with a view to putting a female character centre stage this time.

    Before I left Madeline, she kindly signed a copy of her novel (see above) and I have it here to give away. I can post it anywhere in the world - American readers may like to note that it won't be published in the US until next March, so here's your chance to get it ahead of time - and all you have to do to put your name in the hat is leave a comment on this post giving the name of one of your own favourite childhood books, something of which you have particularly fond memories.

    One last thing, and this is specially for you, Sandy - I told Madeline that you'd said in your comment that there was something you'd like to have asked her had you had the chance, and she said she'd be delighted to hear from you, so by all means contact her via her website.

    I was sorry to have to say goodbye to Madeline who was just a joy to meet, but I hope she'll come back to Scotland before long, and if she's appearing anywhere near you over the next few months, do take the chance to go and hear her talk about her work. Meanwhile, please enter the draw to win that signed copy of The Song of Achilles (about which there's more here). 

Comments

[Georgina]

I remember your first post on The song of Achilles and made a note to look out for it. A signed copy would be lovely! I read a lot of historical fiction as a child and enjoyed all Rosemary Sutcliff's books, but particularly The Eagle of the Ninth.

[B R Wombat]

This book sounds like a good read. I'm hard pressed to choose a particular favourite childhood book but am going with James Thurber's The Thirteen Clocks.

[Sandy]

Thanks for thinking of me Cornflower and I will look at Madeline Miller's webisite - maybe the answer is already there!

Please exclude me from the draw, since I have the book already, but I will pick 'Winter Holiday' by Arthur Ransome as a favourite children's book.

[Susan in TX]

This does sound like a good one! One of my favorite childhood books was Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards.

[Renata]

In a similar vein a favourite of mine was The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault

[Ruthiella]

You can keep my name out of the drawing. I am inundated with books at the moment…it is making me a little crazy. I just wanted to mentioned that I finished excellent “The King Must Die” by Mary Renault not three days ago, which is a realistic retelling the story/myth of Theseus. So I will most definitely add “The Song of Achilles” to my TBR. I wish I had discovered Mary Renault as a teenager, back when I very much enjoyed Mary Stewart’s Arthurian trilogy, beginning with “The Crystal Cave”.

[Nancy]

For childhood, we didn't have many books and I can only bring to mind several of the Little Golden books, various Mother Goose stories, Raggedy Ann, & Little Orphan Annie (in addition to the reading text books at school). I was an adult before I discovered books by Beatrix Potter or A.A. Milne or Kenneth Grahame - and have always been sad about that because I would have loved them as a child. For historical fiction, two of my favorites that come to mind are Hawaii and The Source, both by Michener - but, those weren't read in childhood.

[adele geras]

One I'm longing to read, for obvious reasons. And the book that turned me on to the Trojan War etc was a book called TALES OF TROY by Andrew Lang. I still have it and it's wonderful. I used to know vast tracts of it by heart when I was about 7.

[Linda Gillard]

I'd love a copy of this. One of my childhood favourites was a treasured Puffin, CHILDREN ON THE OREGON TRAIL by A Rutgers van der Loeff.

[ctussaud]

A favourite book in childhood was The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. I am looking forward to reading Madeline's book as I love all things Trojan, most especially singing in Berlioz's epic opera! For a different "take" on the Trojan wars, read Christopher Logue's wonderful reworkings of Homer

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=christopher+logue+trojan+war&x=19&y=19

[catharina]

The book which stands out from childhood is one of Tonke Dragt - I think one of her books has been translated into English - but not this one: 'Torenhoog en mijlenbreed'.

[Kerry]

Mine was Enid blyton's famous five. I loved the adventures. It engaged your imagination.

[Nicola]

Thank you for the post; the book sounds like a good read. One of my earliest childhood favourites was 'My Naughty Little Sister' by Dorothy Edwards, and beautifully illustrated by Shirley Hughes. I have a memory of my own sister (who is 12 years older than me) taking me to our local library to meet Dorothy Edwards, but since my sister has no such recollection, I'm not sure if it's a figment of my imagination.

[Joanna]

That sounds like a lovely book. I loved all those Roger Lancellyn Green myths and story books when I was a child, but my favourite was The Hobbit - looking back, I think it had something to do with the cosiness of the domestic life as much as the journey, and the sense of overcoming hesitation and getting on with it. Now that I've written that down, I think it's time to re-read it

Joanna

PS loved the photographs of your walk, always good to see Edinburgh, particularly as my son has just started at the university, and we haven't heard a batsqueak from him since we dropped him off on Saturday .... I'm sure he's happy, but it's good to see the colour of the sky where he is

[Erika]

My best first favorite was and is Elizabeth Goudge's "The Little White Horse" I received it one snowy birthday morning and must have read it at least four times since.
I looked at the first photograph and thought "Bath?" but then realized "Oh no, of course not--Newtown, Edinburgh" Thank you for reviving lovely memories.

[Catherine]

My favourite read as a child was 'The Wheel on the School' by Meindert Dejong,such an exciting story of storks and school in another country.
Please include me in the draw, this sounds like a great read.

[Barbara MacLeod]

The only books that stick in my mind from all those years ago were the first grade readers of the "Dick and Jane" series. Learning to read at 6 years old opened a whole new world for me.

[m]

I still love Milly-Molly-Mandy, who was also my mum's favourite back in the 1920s.

[Gill]

My favourite childhood book was Red Roofs by Enid Blyton. I recently bought a secondhand copy & re-read it - obviously dates but I could see why I had liked it so much - very pro-family despite adversity - a bit like The Railway Children.
I also remember my grandmother reading a book to me every day while my mother cooked my father's breakfast - we're talking 1940s here. I was 2 or 3. It began: Wid Wad Woo was a kangaroo. I've never been able to find it again, but if anyone else is old enough to know of it, I should be very grateful to know some details e.g. the author

[Sandy]

I'm chuckling here at how far we have come from 'The Song of Achilles', but there is an out of print book listed in Amazon.co.uk called 'Wid Wad Woo' by Stella Mead. Amazingly, it is Australian!

[Marina McIntire]

This sounds like a wonderful book! Regardless of when it (finally!) is to arrive in the US, I've already put it on my To-Be-Read list.

Picking out a single favorite book from childhood is always a challenge for me, but inevitably I end up mentioning "The Secret Garden." I loved that book so much and re-read it at least once a year for several years.

[Lucy in Louisville]

As I am just now reading Homer's Odyssey, this would be a perfect companion.

I would have to say the childhood book that sticks out in my mind is Caddie Woodlawn, the story of an adventurous young girl-tomboy on the American frontier in the 1860s. Lovely.

[Anji]

I remember a snowy Christmas when my father sat down and read to me "Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. It is my favourite memory of Christmases past. Later on I re-read the book myself, several times and I still have the book. I also loved the Enid Blyton's "Famous Five" series too.

[Cornflower]

I hope your son will have a very happy time here in Edinburgh, Joanna - today is another sunny day!

[Ceri Kay]

I am not sure if this giveaway has closed, sorry if I have entered too late! I would love to read this book. My favourite book from childhood is a tie between any one of the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton (especially the Famous Five and You, a tie on series where you get to dictate the plot) which I was obsessed with and Matilda by Roald Dahl.