The Aleksandar Hemon Audio Interview

Interview by Nigel Beale

Aleksandar Hemon was was born in Sarajevo in 1964. After graduating from the University of Sarajevo with a degree in literature in 1990, Hemon moved to Chicago in 1992 and subsequently taught himself to write in English. His writing has appeared in in The New Yorker, Esquire, and The Paris Review, and he is the recipient of many awards and honors, including a MacArthur “genius” grant in 2004. Hemon is the author of three book-length works of fiction, most recently The Lazarus Project, which was published in May 2008 and nominated for the United States’ National Book Award. Nigel Beale spoke with him in November of the same year.

Nigel Beale is a freelance writer/broadcaster who specializes in literary journalism. His writing has appeared in, among other places, The Washington Post, The Guardian (Manchester), The Globe and Mail, and Canadian Bookseller magazine. In his role as host of The Biblio File radio program he has interviewed many of the world’s most admired authors and leading book aficionados.

interview © Nigel Beale

Articles by Nigel Beale

ISSUE 14

Features

CONTEST: Win Bolaño’s English-Language Oeuvre and More

The Quarterly Conversation’s winter contest! First prize is every single one of Roberto Bolaño’s works available in English. Details here.

From the Editors: On Writing and Work

“There are four ways to survive as a writer in the US in 2006: the university; journalism; odd jobs; and independent wealth,” argues Keith Gessen in n + 1. We disagree.

Soulbroken

“It was a sunny day, hot and not real breezy, when I brought Oblivion with me to my bench. I felt almost cheeky, book in hand, making my way to the pond, like I knew something everyone else at the office didn’t know. It was easy to find the part of the story I loved so much because I had marked it off and marked it up . . . “

William Gaddis, the Last Protestant

William Gaddis’s career could have started with the question, “Work?” John Lingan argues that no single word better encapsulates the concerns and organizing metaphor for Gaddis’s artistic project.

Post Office by Charles Bukowski

Legends abound regarding Bukowski the drinker, Bukowski the womanizer, Bukowski the belligerent, Bukowski the unexpectedly tender-hearted. But among the many titles bestowed upon Bukowski, that of “working stiff” is rarely invoked. Nicole Gluckstern explores Bukowski the worker.

The Great Work Goes On: Carter Scholz’s Radiance

Crossing the concerns and techniques of Don DeLillo, William Gaddis, and Richard Powers, Carter Scholz has been writing some of our most interesting fiction about science, commerce, and America. Sacha Arnold digs into Radiance, his novel of nuclear weapons research scientists.