On August 4th, the library team hosted Diane Cook, author of The New Wilderness, on our Door to Door program. The New Wilderness is a debut novel that explores a moving mother-daughter relationship in a world ravaged by climate change and overpopulation, a suspenseful second book from the author of the acclaimed story collection, Man V. Nature. This book has been receiving so many rave reviews, including the honor of being longlisted for the Booker Prize.
Watch the recorded conversation here:
We were not able to get to all the amazing questions that were submitted by viewers, but Diane was kind enough to answer these questions separately. We have listed the answers below.
1. There were so many layers—experimental societies, marriages, relationships to each other and with others. Do you have a relationship to living off the land? —Kim McGee, Lake Travis Community Library
I've never lived off the land, but I've spent a lot of time in remote, rustic places. And have also read a lot of literature about doing similar things. I grew up in suburbs and cities. I think my draw to these landscapes is a reaction to that.
2. What is your background, Diane? Your topics in the book seem to deal with psychology/sociology/human relations. —Shannon Wilson Spease
I studied literature and writing in college. And I went on to be a producer for public radio's This American Life. So I have spent a lot of time thinking about stories and how people tell them, and how we process and talk about the things that happen to us. I also moved a lot as a kid and as the one who was always the new kid, I think I learned very early to watch and observe people to figure out how I could fit in, or how I didn't.
3. What books have informed your own writing? —Lillian Dabney, Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum Library
Walden is a foundational text for me. I've taught at an experiential literature program for years, where we go to New England, live rustically and read Thoreau, Emerson, Dickinson, Frost, the big names of their time. The ideas in their work, especially in Walden, and from this program, really informed The New Wilderness. As far as a fiction hero, Aimee Bender and George Saunders are two very inspirational writers to me. Aimee Bender taught me I could make the mundane into something fantastical. That was an essential lesson for me.
4. Was it your intention to use the relationship between these future people and nature as a theme to caution us in today's society? —Paulette Brooks, Elm Grove Public Library (WI)-retired librarian
I'm not sure it was so much an intention as something unavoidable. When writing speculative fiction, part of my goal is to see where we might end up if our current culture and society goes unchecked. I take it to the farthest and most logical point. In that way, our time now and the future time of the book are inextricable.
5. What lessons about nature would you like to convey to your children? —Paulette Brooks, Elm Grove Public Library (WI)-retired librarian
I think about this a lot because I currently live in a city and worry often that this will always be the case. But I think it reminds me that one important lesson about nature is that we always have a relationship with it, even when it feels distant or absent. When I write about the City in the book, in my mind, I'm really writing about the natural world and its absence. And that absence is telling me and the reader something about our characters. I also want to make sure my kids can see the natural world in places that aren't obvious. Because even as I talk about its "absence," it's never really absent from any part of our day, regardless of where we live. It's all in how we think about it and define it.
6. Please tell us more about the New England Literature Program. The rustic nature and non-traditional study methods sound fascinating! and How did your experience in radio influence your writing? —Maureen Roberts, Baltimore County Public Library
The New England Literature program is an experiential literature program though the University of Michigan (but you can be a student at any university to apply.) I was a student there and I taught there for many years. As I mentioned above in another question, we read Thoreau, Emerson, Frost, Dickinson and others and live in rustic cabins, with fire heat and not a lot of electricity. The students give up their technology for 6 weeks, and we all live, work, and study together, cooking, cleaning and teaching as part of the program. It's an amazing opportunity for students to study a text in the landscape that generated it, and ask how place affects our experience of a text, and to have a completely different educational experience. Find out more here: https://lsa.umich.edu/nelp
Thanks for taking time to answer these thoughtful questions, Diane!
You can get a copy of The New Wilderness now.
-Lainey