An Interview With Natasha Mostert
The following interview was taken from the amazon.co.uk author's interview:
When and why did you begin writing? When did you consider yourself an author?
I suppose I considered myself an author only after I had actually signed the contract with my publisher! I've considered myself a writer for much longer. Even during the time I worked as a university teacher, writing esoteric, dry-as-dust academic articles, I knew that some day I would like to write creatively. When South Africa started on its remarkable journey from apartheid to democracy, I wanted to write about this astonishing transformation and was fortunate enough to get my pieces accepted by the op-ed page of The New York Times and by such newspapers as The Independent and The Times (London). This in turn gave me the necessary confidence to embark on a novel.
Who or what has influenced your writing and which books have most influenced your life?
Writers are often asked where they find their inspiration. I'm a scavenger: I'm constantly trawling for evocative images, words, phrases, pictures in magazines, photographs, snatches of overheard conversation, even ceiling details!
As for books: I read voraciously and widely. My native language is Afrikaans and my academic background in modern languages has exposed me to some exceptional works of literature. But I write commercial fiction and have a high level of pop culture intake. Anything that moves people or manages to get their imagination going, is worth paying attention to. A book that always takes my breath is Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea. And the book I wish I could have written is Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha. It is a brilliant, brilliant read. (See also On Reading)
What is the most romantic book you've ever read? The funniest? The scariest?
I was thirteen when I read Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame and I still remember the impact the very last scene in the book made on me. In this scene two skeletons - a male and a female - are discovered in the vault of Montfaucon two years after the main events in the book have taken place. The female was obviously buried in the vault after she was hanged but the male - a humpback -- shows no rupture of the vertebrae of the neck and must have come to the vault to die. When an attempt is made to disengage it from the female skeleton in its grasp, it crumbles to dust. After reading this scene, I was inconsolable for days! Even though I've read some remarkable romantic novels in the years that followed - Theodore Fontane's Effi Briest, Louis Couperus' Eline Vere, Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, and of course Wuthering Heights and Gone with the Wind - no other reading experience has touched me as much as the hunchback's passion for his Esmeralda. The funniest book I've ever read is Auberon Waugh's autobiography Will this Do? It is shameless, intelligent and very, very funny. The scariest? Steven King's The Shining. No contest.
What music if any most inspires you to write? What do you listen to while writing?
I am passionate about music, so much so that I even wrote a book The Other Side of Silence on this topic. My mother is a voice coach for opera singers and I grew up with classical music. But my taste in music is like my taste in writing: eclectic. For inspiration, I usually listen to Nina Simone: voluptuous sophistication and crystalline purity - it never fails. Loreena McKennitt sings the way I wish I could write : her compositions are magical. I'm a big Bruce Springsteen fan - apart from the music, I'm always bewitched by his lyrics. Any soundtrack composed by Hans Zimmer is wonderful background music for writing, as is the music of Shahin and Sepehr. And Mozart, of course. I read somewhere that more women ask to listen to Mozart while they give birth than any other composer. His music certainly helps with the creative writing process as well! When I'm homesick I listen to Splash, Patricia Majalisa or the Dalom Kids. They're all great performers of 'Mpantsula Jive' - a hybrid of South African Mbaqanga township music and Western dance influences. I have also become captivated by the songs of singer-songwriter Cengiz: a cool guy making great music. To order his EP "help me from me" and for live performance dates, check out his website at www.cengiz-music.com.
What are you reading now? Which CD is currently in your CD player?
I am busy reading Reservation Road by John Burnham Schwartz. I am switching between CDs at the moment : New Order's Get Ready, Loreena McKennitt's Book of Secrets and Francis Cabrel's Quelqu'un de l'intérieur.
