Matt Ruff
I first learned about about the 1921 Tulsa Massacre from a book called Sundown Towns by James W. Loewen. (Sundown Towns is also where I first heard about the Negro Motorist Green Book, the real-life inspiration for the Safe Negro Travel Guide, and it was invaluable in helping me understand the insidious way Jim Crow-era racism operated in the northern U.S., where Lovecraft Country is set.)
The initial decision to include the Tulsa Massacre in the novel was purely intuitive. It was this huge historical event that had been largely forgotten, and the date meant that it would have happened when Montrose and George were children, so I thought, OK, what if the family were from there, and they came to Chicago after their Tulsa home was destroyed?
So I built that into the family backstory from the start, not really knowing what I was going to do with it. Then, as the novel evolved, talking about Tulsa became a way of explaining Montrose’s psychology – how he became the man and the father that he is. Because of the way his own father died, Montrose sees his main parental role as that of a protector. His job isn’t to be Atticus’s friend, it’s to keep him alive, teach him how to keep himself alive, and, when necessary, to beat sense into him. The irony is that Atticus, who didn’t experience the Tulsa Massacre, doesn’t understand his father’s hostility, so he rebels.
The initial decision to include the Tulsa Massacre in the novel was purely intuitive. It was this huge historical event that had been largely forgotten, and the date meant that it would have happened when Montrose and George were children, so I thought, OK, what if the family were from there, and they came to Chicago after their Tulsa home was destroyed?
So I built that into the family backstory from the start, not really knowing what I was going to do with it. Then, as the novel evolved, talking about Tulsa became a way of explaining Montrose’s psychology – how he became the man and the father that he is. Because of the way his own father died, Montrose sees his main parental role as that of a protector. His job isn’t to be Atticus’s friend, it’s to keep him alive, teach him how to keep himself alive, and, when necessary, to beat sense into him. The irony is that Atticus, who didn’t experience the Tulsa Massacre, doesn’t understand his father’s hostility, so he rebels.
More Answered Questions
John
asked
Matt Ruff:
How different was writing "Lovecraft County" in comparison with "The Mirage", since I am aware that you had tried pitching "The Mirage" first as a TV series before writing it as a novel? I am especially impressed with your world building in "Lovecraft Country", though it lacks the inventiveness of say, what you dubbed as the internet in "The Mirage".
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