Noel Anenberg's Blog - Posts Tagged "hope"
Q&A WITH NOEL ANENBERG
Q&A WITH NOEL ANENBERG, AUTHOR OF THE DOG BOY
Q: THE DOG BOY deals with a fictitious mother challenged by racism who tries to save her wounded Marine son. Was this plot element based on actual characters and events?
The novel is semi-autobiographical. All of the characters were part of my early childhood. Most appear with fictional names. The events are both real and imagined. The line separating reality and fantasy was left porous for the sake of story. Most importantly, the civil and social conditions depicted in THE DOG BOY were real. There was still a great deal of segregation though out the United States, even in the “blue” state of California. Black members of the military were treated in segregated, understaffed, poorly equipped Colored hospital wards. Intraracial marriage was illegal. I did lose my first best friend, a mutt named Frenchie, however I was not caged for canine behavior, as was my avatar, Billy.
Q: Why did you decide to base your novel on this particular subject?
All the fancy stuff aside, one of the unspoken benefits of being an author is the ability to write characters representing those real persons you dislike, those who have acted injudiciously toward you, those who have hurt you and gone unpunished, into your stories and kill them if that’s what they deserve. The loved ones get into. They of course have much more favorable outcomes – unless of course they happen to cross you before the novel is published! Novelists have to have fun too. THE DOG BOY is part cathartic, part revisionist, part declaration of fact, and it is a belated petition for justice. In the High Court of Fiction the statute of limitations never runs out. The heroine, Phosie Mae Eaton, was a simple Christian woman who because of her skin color was treated as second class by whites far less noble then she. Still, Phosie Mae was able to give succor both to her son and to Billy, and she was able to find love and hope amidst tragic loss. The ending of the novel reflects my very belated resolution to a heretofore intractable problem. I could not repair my broken family. Through the pages of The Dog Boy I used old parts to craft a new but by no means perfect working model thereof.
Q: Did you do any specific research for this novel?
Yes. I performed a great deal of research on the Montford Point Marines for my screenplay, Gunny McGuire, about a young black man who volunteers for the Marines in 1943. Further, research was needed for some of the historical public scenes such as the Hotel Dunbar.
Q: What was the most challenging part of writing this novel?
Writing the truth. To survive I created a grand illusion for my childhood. I allowed myself to believe the bad people were good. In order to write THE DOG BOY, I had to shatter that illusion. I had to put all of the characters down on the pages of the novel in accordance with who they really were, what they really did to one another, and how they behaved toward me. There was no room for sadness, anger, or sentimentality, Just the facts, mam. I did however leave plenty of room for creative license. For example my father was a monster but he did not beat my mother and did not go to jail. I put the character that portrays him, Leo Goldberg, behind bars for my character Billy’s protection. As my mother was wayward, I put her character, Mrs. Lucy, in a wheel chair to pin her down. From her wheelchair she could see that the love of a child is far more important then spending nights in bars with chippies and drunkards.
Q: Is there an underlying theme that runs through your work?
Yes, most definitely. That theme, the oppressed toppling the oppressor, often against dire odds, and winning freedom, runs through most all of my writing. The theme incorporates my belief in Providence, in God, and in the ancient Hebrew mandate of Tikkun Olam or “repair of the world” with each and every decision we make, each action we take. It does no good to be free and not make the world a better place, not treat people better than you were treated. I try to imbue my writing with the value of faith, perseverance, and hope. I strive to write stories that elevate the human condition. That I believe is the highest and best use of art.
Q: What do you think makes for a good novel?
I think of John Steinbeck’s of “Mice and Men,” a cherished novella by a champion of the craft. The rural setting seasoned with dust and the sweat of men, George and Lennie, the little guy fighting for his stake in the land, love, loyalty, and innocence challenged by the hunger for power, greed, lust and jealously contribute to Steinbeck’s jewel of a narrative. Literary heroes, Davids all, inspire me. They fight evil despite the odds. They never give up. They bring goodness, love, and light to our lives.
Q: Which writers do you read?
Most of the authors whose work I adore are gone; Charles Dickens, Flannery O’Connor, John Steinbeck, George Orwell, E.M. Forrester, Faulkner, Dumas, Thomas Mann, Tolstoy, Theodore Dreiser, Wallace Stegner, Saul Bellow, Malamud, The Singer Brothers, Herman Wouk and James Mitchener (who I met in Pamplona’s Plaza Del Castillo during San Fermin, the Running of the Bulls,) and Graham Greene, the majestic Graham Greene. Then there are the living; Orhan Pamuk, Salmon Rushdie, Erik Larson, James Patterson, V.S. Naipul, and Adam Johnson author of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel Orphan Master’s Son.
Q: What advice would you give aspiring writers?
1. Read, read, read.
2. Write, write, write.
3. Never ever believe anyone who tells you your work has no value.
4. Believe in yourself!
5. Fake it till you make it.
5. Never ever give up.
Q: THE DOG BOY deals with a fictitious mother challenged by racism who tries to save her wounded Marine son. Was this plot element based on actual characters and events?
The novel is semi-autobiographical. All of the characters were part of my early childhood. Most appear with fictional names. The events are both real and imagined. The line separating reality and fantasy was left porous for the sake of story. Most importantly, the civil and social conditions depicted in THE DOG BOY were real. There was still a great deal of segregation though out the United States, even in the “blue” state of California. Black members of the military were treated in segregated, understaffed, poorly equipped Colored hospital wards. Intraracial marriage was illegal. I did lose my first best friend, a mutt named Frenchie, however I was not caged for canine behavior, as was my avatar, Billy.
Q: Why did you decide to base your novel on this particular subject?
All the fancy stuff aside, one of the unspoken benefits of being an author is the ability to write characters representing those real persons you dislike, those who have acted injudiciously toward you, those who have hurt you and gone unpunished, into your stories and kill them if that’s what they deserve. The loved ones get into. They of course have much more favorable outcomes – unless of course they happen to cross you before the novel is published! Novelists have to have fun too. THE DOG BOY is part cathartic, part revisionist, part declaration of fact, and it is a belated petition for justice. In the High Court of Fiction the statute of limitations never runs out. The heroine, Phosie Mae Eaton, was a simple Christian woman who because of her skin color was treated as second class by whites far less noble then she. Still, Phosie Mae was able to give succor both to her son and to Billy, and she was able to find love and hope amidst tragic loss. The ending of the novel reflects my very belated resolution to a heretofore intractable problem. I could not repair my broken family. Through the pages of The Dog Boy I used old parts to craft a new but by no means perfect working model thereof.
Q: Did you do any specific research for this novel?
Yes. I performed a great deal of research on the Montford Point Marines for my screenplay, Gunny McGuire, about a young black man who volunteers for the Marines in 1943. Further, research was needed for some of the historical public scenes such as the Hotel Dunbar.
Q: What was the most challenging part of writing this novel?
Writing the truth. To survive I created a grand illusion for my childhood. I allowed myself to believe the bad people were good. In order to write THE DOG BOY, I had to shatter that illusion. I had to put all of the characters down on the pages of the novel in accordance with who they really were, what they really did to one another, and how they behaved toward me. There was no room for sadness, anger, or sentimentality, Just the facts, mam. I did however leave plenty of room for creative license. For example my father was a monster but he did not beat my mother and did not go to jail. I put the character that portrays him, Leo Goldberg, behind bars for my character Billy’s protection. As my mother was wayward, I put her character, Mrs. Lucy, in a wheel chair to pin her down. From her wheelchair she could see that the love of a child is far more important then spending nights in bars with chippies and drunkards.
Q: Is there an underlying theme that runs through your work?
Yes, most definitely. That theme, the oppressed toppling the oppressor, often against dire odds, and winning freedom, runs through most all of my writing. The theme incorporates my belief in Providence, in God, and in the ancient Hebrew mandate of Tikkun Olam or “repair of the world” with each and every decision we make, each action we take. It does no good to be free and not make the world a better place, not treat people better than you were treated. I try to imbue my writing with the value of faith, perseverance, and hope. I strive to write stories that elevate the human condition. That I believe is the highest and best use of art.
Q: What do you think makes for a good novel?
I think of John Steinbeck’s of “Mice and Men,” a cherished novella by a champion of the craft. The rural setting seasoned with dust and the sweat of men, George and Lennie, the little guy fighting for his stake in the land, love, loyalty, and innocence challenged by the hunger for power, greed, lust and jealously contribute to Steinbeck’s jewel of a narrative. Literary heroes, Davids all, inspire me. They fight evil despite the odds. They never give up. They bring goodness, love, and light to our lives.
Q: Which writers do you read?
Most of the authors whose work I adore are gone; Charles Dickens, Flannery O’Connor, John Steinbeck, George Orwell, E.M. Forrester, Faulkner, Dumas, Thomas Mann, Tolstoy, Theodore Dreiser, Wallace Stegner, Saul Bellow, Malamud, The Singer Brothers, Herman Wouk and James Mitchener (who I met in Pamplona’s Plaza Del Castillo during San Fermin, the Running of the Bulls,) and Graham Greene, the majestic Graham Greene. Then there are the living; Orhan Pamuk, Salmon Rushdie, Erik Larson, James Patterson, V.S. Naipul, and Adam Johnson author of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel Orphan Master’s Son.
Q: What advice would you give aspiring writers?
1. Read, read, read.
2. Write, write, write.
3. Never ever believe anyone who tells you your work has no value.
4. Believe in yourself!
5. Fake it till you make it.
5. Never ever give up.
