Grit Happens
On the face of it, a gothic western, influenced equally by Sergio Leone and Samuel Beckett, seems an unlikely candidate for a Booker Prize nomination. Patrick deWitt explains how he went about creating a minor modern masterpiece.
Roisin Dwyer, 31 Aug 2012
The western as a literary genre declined in popularity with the rise of film and televised formats in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Over the years numerous authors have attempted to follow in the footsteps of Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour, including Elmore Leonard, Larry McMurty and Leigh Brackett. Now, however, with his beguiling The Sisters Brothers, Patrick DeWitt has resuscitated the ailing form by deviating from the usual tropes and in the process weaving a compelling and often narrative around complex, tortured characters.
“I find when personalities in films or novels are very black-and-white I tend to lose interest,” DeWitt muses, ensconced in a corner of Brooks Hotel in Dublin. “It seems like real life is more complicated than that. I have never known any purely bad or purely good people and it just seemed like more of a challenge to try to humanise complicated people as opposed to just painting someone as heroic. When things become cut and dried in my own work I tend to lose interest.”
Losing interest is hardly an issue for DeWitt right now. The Booker-nominated Sisters Brothers has been the recipient of a slew of literary awards and has catapulted the young Canadian from relative anonymity to global notoriety. His previous outing Ablutions had garnered positive nods in literary circles and further acclaim followed when celebrated director Azazel Jacobs brought his short story Terri to international screens with John C. Reilly in the title role. However, the Goldrush-era tale of two hired assassins went further, capturing the imagination of the wider reading public. Inevitably it will be turned into a movie, and Reilly is in discussions to play the lead role.
Alongside its impressively dark humour, perhaps the tome’s greatest strength is its ability to create sympathy between the reader and the rather less than benign characters. By painting the brothers as somewhat fragile and damaged, he eschews the stereotype of the cold hearted killer. This complexity and depth provides an absorbing journey for both reader and, as he explains, writer.
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Roisin Dwyer
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