Danilo
asked
Matt Ruff:
This question contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[Hi Matt!
I'm very curious about the decision to use the Oklahoma assault on Black Wall street in your novel. I'm as embarrassed to say I didn't learn about this historical tragedy until another recent HBO show, as I am that it isn't taught about in our nation's schools. What was your introduction to this horrifying real life event, and what feelings inspired you to place it so fittingly and movingly into your story? (hide spoiler)]
I'm very curious about the decision to use the Oklahoma assault on Black Wall street in your novel. I'm as embarrassed to say I didn't learn about this historical tragedy until another recent HBO show, as I am that it isn't taught about in our nation's schools. What was your introduction to this horrifying real life event, and what feelings inspired you to place it so fittingly and movingly into your story? (hide spoiler)]
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.
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Samsalaqueen
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Matt Ruff:
Hi Mark, by now we are (unfortunately) used to gender-swapping when it comes to movie or TV show adaptations of books. Usually it's the bright, smart, funny and/or strong girl/woman that is turned into a boy/man. This time around, Horace has been gender-swapped into Diana. How do you feel about that? What was the thought process behind it and do you think the character suffered or benefited from it?
Matt Ruff
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