Margot
asked
Matt Ruff:
Hi Matt! Longtime reader here- when I got to Cornell in fall of 1990, a friend handed me Fool on the Hill and said a friend of a friend had written it. I’ve followed your literary career ever since and LOVED Lovecraft Country. Do you see all your books as happening in the same slightly-more-magical version of reality, or are they totally different spaces?
Matt Ruff
I see each book as taking place in its own separate reality.
I get the appeal of having an author’s entire body of work share the same fictional universe, but unless you plan it out very carefully, I think you’re bound to run into continuity problems or conflicts in tone. I’d have a hard time reconciling the goofy sci-fi future of Sewer, Gas & Electric with the more sober storytelling in Set This House in Order, and the thought of Lovecraft Country’s Order of the Ancient Dawn butting heads with the Troop from Bad Monkeys makes my eyes cross. Usually I’m a fan of culture clashes, but in this case, it’d feel too much like a gimmick. Better to leave each novel in its own world.
I get the appeal of having an author’s entire body of work share the same fictional universe, but unless you plan it out very carefully, I think you’re bound to run into continuity problems or conflicts in tone. I’d have a hard time reconciling the goofy sci-fi future of Sewer, Gas & Electric with the more sober storytelling in Set This House in Order, and the thought of Lovecraft Country’s Order of the Ancient Dawn butting heads with the Troop from Bad Monkeys makes my eyes cross. Usually I’m a fan of culture clashes, but in this case, it’d feel too much like a gimmick. Better to leave each novel in its own world.
More Answered Questions
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more