As a follow-up to our Austin’s Pizza Book of the Month, Vintage/ Random House was kind enough to grant us an email interview with The Tiger’s author John Vaillant.
John Vaillant: First of all, many thanks for your interest in The Tiger. I am flattered, and I love the idea of linking books with pizza – two of my favorite things! I wish you every success with this program.
JD (from Austin’s Pizza): Both The Golden Spruce and The Tiger deal with survival in harsh environments. Why does this struggle resonate with you?
JV: I think because it’s at these outer edges of physical and psychic experience that you get a window into a person’s – and an animal’s – essential character. Also, both of these stories highlight fault lines in the human-nature relationship, and these generally occur in challenging environments, far from human settlement. How we manage these tensions will determine the fate of countless species, including ours.
JD: The three central figures in The Tiger are hard to classify as typical static protagonists/ antagonists thru the narrative.
JV: I think reality is in its nature, ambiguous and subjective. There are, in my experience, very few truly simple, black and white situations or characters.
One of the reasons this story appealed to me is because of its real-world ambiguity. Once you get to know the characters, it’s harder, I think, to take a black and white view of them. I see all of them as embattled, vulnerable and somewhat tragic figures who are at the mercy of forces far more powerful than themselves.
JD: Who do you think is the protagonist and the antagonist? Is this distinction even possible?
JV: There are many readers who root for the tiger on principle, and I sympathize. I guess I would have to say I see Trush as the protagonist because he is stuck with the thankless of task of trying to keep order and save lives in this chaotic and dangerous situation.
In a more nuanced story (like this one, I hope), I think identifying the protagonist and antagonist has more to do with the reader’s own character and personal biases.
JD: When considering ideas and the like, what is the key element that says book instead of, say, an article etc.? What does a certain story need to make it book-worthy?
JV: These are the author’s eternal questions! I would have to say that, for me, the key elements are drama, depth and a multitude of accessible levels. The story of the tiger and the hunt could be handled pretty well in a magazine article, but it would also miss so much in terms of character, background, motive, history, biology, anthropology, and suspense. In order to make the leap to a book, you have to determine A) is there enough raw information to meet the demands of a deep investigation, and B) Are the lead characters and their shared predicament interesting enough to sustain interest over three hundred pages. Also, it’s something you, the writer, are going to be living with for years – so you need to be feel deeply invested.
JD: Have you ever been to Austin? If so, what was your impression?
JV: Coolest town in Texas. That said, I’ve never been but have heard =great= things about the people, the music, the vibe. I’d love to visit.
JD: Is there another book currently in the works? If not, what’s next?
JV: I just finished a draft of a novel (my first) that happens to be set in the southwest and in Mexico.
