Today's interview is a little different from the one's I usually post here, but brings some light on a genre that doesn't get discussed often; the life of a satirical writer.
Disclosure: Political views are that of the author. Writers and Authors believes in discussing books of all genres.
Douglas Board is a British satirist. His first novel ‘MBA’ (why is so
much of the world managed by assholes?) was published in 2015. The UK
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| http://amzn.to/2FLGvJh |
On both sides of the Atlantic , these are crazy political times. What
challenges does that pose for the satirical writer?
Giant, for any writer on book-like timescales. For example ‘Time of
Lies’ was conceived around 2013; the writing started before a referendum on
Brexit was on the cards. At the very least you must have a deep story which
isn’t fast-moving. In ‘Time of Lies’ that story is deep social division – the
mutual ignorance and contempt between ruling class and ruled which I see in my
country, in the USA and more generally. Social division can’t change fast
(sadly).
So don’t shoot at a moving target.
That’s fundamental, but not a get-out-of-jail-free card. Readers only
get to the deep story through plot and a host of details: in that shallow water
the crazy political weather can wreak havoc. The writer’s challenge is a bit
like this: your target may not be moving, but the clothes you’ve worn to the
range could suddenly look inappropriate.
Literally days before the release
of your White House satire, we’re reading ‘Fire and Fury’, Michael Wolff’s
tell-all exposé. What’s the deep story in ‘The Rats’, and how are the story’s
clothes looking?
The novelette’s deep story is exploring delusion. I think anyone who
has led or coached senior leaders (I’ve had the good fortune to do both), knows
more than they might like to let on about delusion. ‘The Rats’ builds on that.
How are the clothes looking? I did miss that there are 3 TV screens in Trump’s
White House bedroom but overall I think I’m grinning: I’d no idea that the Trumps are the first
Presidential couple since the Kennedys to have separate bedrooms, but the story
has an intuition in that direction; in a scene hinting at the Emperor’s new
clothes, the president in ‘The Rats’ appears naked but for a dressing gown. In
‘Fire and Fury’, the newly inaugurated Trump spends forty-eight hours roaming
the White House insisting that he didn’t own a bathrobe. ‘Do I seem like a
bathrobe kind of guy, really?’. Actually, I count that as a win; but the prize has to be when Wolff pictures
Trump thinking of Comey: ‘And always there were rats. A rat was someone who
would take you down for his own advantage. If you had a rat, you needed to kill
it.’ I couldn’t have said it better myself.
How did having leadership
experience help you satirically? Have you had the experience of being attacked
or mocked?
I think the laughter which
comes from being willing to laugh at yourself, or an important part of
yourself, has a different feel, and more insight, than just laughing at others.
I believe that’s true in both of my novels – perhaps most obviously in ‘MBA’,
given that I help teach at a business school in London
And I have been mocked. I had the privilege of serving for several
years as trustee and then treasurer of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial
Fund. Collectively we were constantly mocked as ‘liberals’ by the right-wing Daily Mail, although the kind of causes
to which we allocated funds (such as fighting AIDS or helping refugees) were
precisely those where Diana had set an example. When I stepped down from the
Fund to chair Britain
Imagine if Diana were alive today, and going to meet Trump on his
forthcoming British visit … wow!
a white house satire
author interview
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Douglas Board
Interview
Jo Linsdell
political books
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satirical writer
The rats
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