Ben Fountain: the Interview
Learn more about Rasputin Swims the Potomac, Ben Fountain’s new book.
We caught up with NewLit Board Member Ben Fountain, author of the newly released Rasputin Swims the Potomac, and he agreed to do an exclusive mini-interview with NewLit. Read on.
Q: This is a highly entertaining, energetic and propulsive narrative. What were the biggest unknowns for you as you started writing this new book?
Ben: All the usual unknowns — character, plot, pacing, world-building, and whether I was up to getting the novel bouncing around in my head onto the page. In other words, the usual terrors and doubts.
Q: Satire of our current moment seems like a high risk endeavor, both artistically and politically. Can you tell us something about how you thought about those risks as you were writing?
Ben: As I was writing, exactly WHAT I might be writing was the last thing on my mind. Satire? Realism? Some sort of deeply weird magical realism? The goal and the challenge was to write the book in the most authentic way I could, i.e., capturing the reality of my characters in their present moment. If our usual notions of "reality" have to be stretched in order to justice to their reality, so be it.
Q: In terms of political satire, the book seems prescient. The character of Rasputin is a professional wrestler. Given what we know about what's happening on the White House lawn and the fact that this book's release happens 5 days before our current president celebrates his 80th birthday watching UFC mixed martial arts, how did you manage to predict such a spectacle? Are you clairvoyant?
Ben: Hah, yes, I'm thinking of going into business as a clairvoyant, anyone who's interested please contact my speaker bureau. But seriously, I'm just doing what writers are always trying to do, checking the temperature, looking over the lay of the land, trying to channel the vibe. Just being alert as I can be to what's happening around me, then trying to get whatever perceptions I might have onto the page in a genuine way.
Read an excerpt of Rasputin Swims the Potomac.
Or order today.