Katie Kitamura - Gone to the Forest

Why are you drawn to writing male characters, both in The Longshot and in Gone to the Forest? What are the challenges for you, as a woman, in writing about masculinity?

In a way, it’s easier to write about men than women — much of the literary canon, and much of the culture at large, is written by men, about men. There’s no shortage of precedent. In The Longshot, I was interested in appropriating masculine writing about masculinity; in Gone to the Forest, I tried to write about the exclusion of women from a predominantly male world.

Can you provide any more insight into the ending? Do you believe there is a chance that things do not end badly for Tom and Carine? In such a place, can these two characters ever hope to achieve happiness?

I think things end badly for Tom and Carine, but if I had to put my money on one of them, I’d put it on Carine.

What are you reading now? What is next for you as a writer?

I like reading fiction in translation. One of the things I like is the discordance translation can create in terms of prose style; unsuccessful translations are almost as interesting as successful ones. Recently, I’ve been reading a lot of Javier Marias, who deals with the philosophical import of translation, as well as some literary couples: Elsa Morante and Alberto Moravia, Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan.

As far as writing goes, I’m working on a third novel, which has elements of feminist science fiction and psychological horror.