Author Ron Currie Jr. spoke to students in two sessions Saturday afternoon in Baldwin Auditorium about his novel “Everything Matters!,” which served as the summer reading selection for the Class of 2014. The novel, published in 2009, follows the life of a young man burdened with foreknowledge of an apocalypse. The Chronicle’s Yeshwanth Kandimalla spoke with Currie after one of the talks about both his work and his personal life.
The Chronicle:What was your reaction to Duke’s selection of “Everything Matters!” as the book that all freshmen would be required to read?
Ron Currie Jr.: I was definitely surprised. It was interesting because I had found out that it was named a finalist at [another university] for their freshman reading selection. It didn’t end up getting chosen, though. When I found out that Duke had chosen it as the book to read, it was tremendously gratifying. I find that younger readers often respond well to my work, even better than older readers sometimes.
TC: Of the forums where you have presented and discussed the novel, what made Duke different?
RC: The size of the audience, definitely. I think the next closest I ever had was around 500 people total, and here it’s around 800 in each group. I’ve also been very impressed with the level of engagement and curiosity about the book among students. Students weren’t afraid to take me head on with some of their issues with the book. Some authors may have a problem with it, but I think it’s part of the exchange.
TC: What are the major aspects of your creative process?
RC: Writing a novel can definitely be difficult, but you can become more apt at it. I like to use an analogy. Think of a surgeon and a really basic surgical procedure, like maybe an appendectomy. The anatomy of each patient is different, so finding the appendix is the difficult part. Removing it is relatively simpler. For me, the novel, in a sense, is the patient, and I’m sort of performing an appendectomy. For me, it’s ultimately about the end product.
TC: And how do you develop each character’s voice in the alternating narrative perspective of the novel?
RC: I think it’s the same as other elements. You start writing and see what works. Certain consistencies start to pop up, which definitely leads to a good end product.
TC: What has writing as a form of personal expression meant for you in your life?
RC: To be honest, I would probably be dead without it. It saved me from a childhood fraught with unhappiness. It saved me from bad financial circumstances. As far as expressing myself, it can be pretty difficult, but getting it right makes up for it. Those moments are the ones that really sustain me.
TC: Literary critics sometimes compare you as an author to other writers, including Kurt Vonnegut. What do you think of such comparisons?
RC: I consider them inaccurate at best and hyperbolic at worst. Vonnegut has always been a literary hero of mine, so I really don’t want to compare myself [to him]. There are people who also talk about me with Raymond Carver, another literary godfather of mine, which I also don’t believe. I mean, it’s really flattering, but as a book geek, I don’t see myself on that level.
TC: Your book deals with apocalypse—what do you think about the public’s interest in the end of the world?
RC: I think we’ve always been speculating. I personally have always been fixated on it. If there’s a TV special on the History Channel or something, I’ll watch it. I think, as humans, it appeals to a very dark and primal side of our nature, the idea of total destruction. I mean, we’re onto the third generation living in a world of nuclear capability, and that’s a relatively short period to grow accustomed to this new form of destruction. Of course, growing up in the later part of the Cold War, like many people, I was around with all the saber rattling in [President Ronald] Reagan’s time. Then, people definitely became hyper-aware of the potential for the world to end.
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