Sahar Abdulaziz
asked
Susan Moore Jordan:
Hi Susan, In your novel, A Man With No Yesterdays, your character, Jake Cameron lost his memories after a terrible helicopter crash during the Vietnam War. Not only did he lose his memories, but also his identity. My heart broke for him. What level and type of research did you have to do to write such an in-depth, accurate, and compelling novel such as this?
Susan Moore Jordan
For the book which precedes Man With No Yesterdays -- Memories of Jake -- I had done considerable research about the Vietnam War and the difficulty of the years that followed for the people who fought in that war. I had also been fortunate enough to connect with some Vietnam veterans, and I learned that many were reluctant to discuss their experiences; indeed, some preferred to think about them as little as possible.
What if a man had been a respected member of the military as a Green Beret, and a Traumatic Brain Injury left him without that memory, so that rather than trying to forget, he was desperate to remember? That was Jake's burden. I learned through research about brain injuries and memory loss that it is definitely something that can happen -- a person can lose their autobiographical memory without losing their general knowledge and their ability to function in the world. It's unusual, but it's possible. Some brain injuries can affect only certain areas of the brain and the result can be such a condition.
I found a book about a man named Scott Bolzan to whom this actually happened. In "My Life, Deleted," Bolzan's fairly minor injury apparently affected only that part of his brain -- his episodic, or autobiographical, memories. At first his doctors thought his memory would return quickly, but it did not, and he had to find friends and relatives to help him recreate his life from childhood through his adult life: marriage and children. Eventually he recovered a few fleeting memories of his early childhood.
I challenged myself when writing Man With No Yesterdays by writing in the first person, and tried to put myself in Jake's mind as he struggled to discover who he had been, and when it was evident it was unlikely he would recover that person, to find a way to understand who he had become and build a new life for himself. It was helpful to make Jake's odyssey a physical journey as well as an emotional and spiritual one.
I included more research on the Vietnam War and had a consultant who assisted me with a scene about Jake's final mission, the mission which resulted in his injury and memory loss. I took Jake to the Northwest where he met other veterans, some who had not been able to re-assimilate into life past their war experience.
Along the way Jake met many people who helped him, and he began to understand who this new Jake Cameron was and what his life could become. It was fascinating to make this journey with him. Thank you for asking about the book. In many ways, it's my favorite.
What if a man had been a respected member of the military as a Green Beret, and a Traumatic Brain Injury left him without that memory, so that rather than trying to forget, he was desperate to remember? That was Jake's burden. I learned through research about brain injuries and memory loss that it is definitely something that can happen -- a person can lose their autobiographical memory without losing their general knowledge and their ability to function in the world. It's unusual, but it's possible. Some brain injuries can affect only certain areas of the brain and the result can be such a condition.
I found a book about a man named Scott Bolzan to whom this actually happened. In "My Life, Deleted," Bolzan's fairly minor injury apparently affected only that part of his brain -- his episodic, or autobiographical, memories. At first his doctors thought his memory would return quickly, but it did not, and he had to find friends and relatives to help him recreate his life from childhood through his adult life: marriage and children. Eventually he recovered a few fleeting memories of his early childhood.
I challenged myself when writing Man With No Yesterdays by writing in the first person, and tried to put myself in Jake's mind as he struggled to discover who he had been, and when it was evident it was unlikely he would recover that person, to find a way to understand who he had become and build a new life for himself. It was helpful to make Jake's odyssey a physical journey as well as an emotional and spiritual one.
I included more research on the Vietnam War and had a consultant who assisted me with a scene about Jake's final mission, the mission which resulted in his injury and memory loss. I took Jake to the Northwest where he met other veterans, some who had not been able to re-assimilate into life past their war experience.
Along the way Jake met many people who helped him, and he began to understand who this new Jake Cameron was and what his life could become. It was fascinating to make this journey with him. Thank you for asking about the book. In many ways, it's my favorite.
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