My Other Spruce and Maple Self By Susan Finlay
Susan Finlay is an artist and writer that Le Document hold in high regard. She was educated at the Royal College of Art, and currently divides her time between Nottingham and Berlin. Following on from the success of, Objektophilia this month sees the release of the splendid, My Other Spruce and Maple Self.
There was something so unreal about the neat Georgian houses opposite and the laurel ball trees in front of them that once again I saw England as a piece of antique porcelain. As something no longer used or displayed due to its unfashionable appearance and propensity to crack..." June 2016, and world-famous cellist and former "sexiest classical musician" Allegra Le Clef is suffering from a compound wrist fracture. Europe also crumbles... From the initial break in London, to the crisis in Athens, to trying and failing to patch things up in Amsterdam Allegra traverses the continent to the accompaniment of a Late Romantic soundtrack (plus Vangelis via Nigel Havers). When not sending emails to a BDSM obsessed catfish, or wondering whether a piece of Nazi jewellery might "lift one of my more sombre evening gowns," she attempts to ease her conscience by volunteering at a refugee centre known for its Syrian cuisine, yet remains oblivious to the numerous other personal and political disasters that are looming. Shocking, camp-and shockingly camp-My Other Spruce and Maple Self is nevertheless a profoundly sad book about a woman unable to come to terms with her own declining status, as well as that of the West.
Q & A with Susan Finlay
When you began writing, My Other Spruce and Maple Self did you feel smugly confident that you were onto a winner?
“I don't know if that's quite the way I'd put it, but I definitely felt that I was writing about something that other people weren't (or at any rate on topics that weren't being addressed in this way by the mainstream publishing houses). I was however, 'smugly confident' about my very cool friends' ability to spot a trend though, and the fact that they were all enthusiastic right from the get-go made me really optimistic too.”
The press reviews of Objektophilia I read were all very positive did you get any bad reactions from family or friends?
“Not to my face! From my perspective, one of the biggest benefits of working with small presses is how much say the author has in the way their book is edited and framed. I wrote all the marketing puff myself, and decided who to send review copies to. I don't know any of the people who reviewed me, but I liked a what they did, and therefore knew (or hoped) that they would like what I did as well. Big publishers on the other hand just want to make everything look 'a bit mumsnet', which if you're contemptuous of mumsnet is a problem.”
Are you still making paintings and thinking up ideas for shows?
“Yes. Right now, I'm doing fantastic things with sausages. When I've finished, I'll post the pics of them online. Then, cross my fingers and wait...”
What was it like being writer in residence at the Freud Museum?
“Unfortunately, the residency began a few days before lockdown. This meant that the vast majority of my time was spent sitting in my bedroom, staring into my mac – i.e. it was exactly the same as every other day now is.”
Are there any politicians who have similar views on Brexit to you? And do you have faith in any political party?
“Hmm, I've always liked Clive Lewis and Emily Thornberry, and there's lots of Labour and Green MPs that I respect even if their Brexit views are not quite so in tune with my own ones. I'm not sure if I have 'faith' in Labour exactly, but I'm a pragmatist, meaning that yes, Keir Starmer is bland at best, but the harsh reality is that we support him, or we've another five years of Boris. So, I'm supporting him.”
I note reviews of M.O.S.A.M.S feature words like "horrifying" and "repellent" are you pleased you're getting these responses?
“Of course. It makes me feel like a rebel, which is extra nice considering I've just edged into my forties.”
One of the characters in your book is a famous cellist - what research did you have to do before writing her part?
“I interviewed several classical musicians who had played with well-known orchestras. I asked them very little about music, and instead put all of my efforts into trying to extract risqué anecdotes: an approach which, in my experience, always yields highly compelling results.”
Do you think most contemporary British writers are all terrible and massively overrated? Who are the good guys?
“No, I don't, but I do get fed-up not only of hearing the same incestuous, Oxbridge cliques going on and on about their tedious lives but also of the ways in which this kind of work is always prioritised by equally posh and annoying book reviewers (usually friends or colleagues of the author). On the upside, I'm a massive fan of Deborah Levy, and think there's very few writers of any nationality who can match her. I also think Ali Smith's pretty good, as well as having a deeply unfashionable soft-spot for early Martin Amis.”
What's the future for Dr Finlay? What would you like to be doing ten years from now?
“Well, I'm not Dr Finlay yet, nor will I ever be if my latest attempts at academia are anything to go by. My rather mundane answer is that I'd like to have enough 'success' as an artist and/or writer not to have a day job. Regardless of whether or not I ever manage to achieve this however, I've just begun writing my fifth book, and am enjoying the process.”
What aspect or what section of, M.O.S.A.M.S are you most proud of?
“That's really difficult to answer, I suppose because I always tend to think of a book as a complete entity. Film was a big influence on M.O.S.A.M.S – more so than literature - and I'm pleased with how this worked out. I used to feel really awkward whenever I met official literary people – they seemed, and still seem, completely different from the art world – but now I can see how having a different frame of reference is a strength. Artists really are the coolest people on the planet. I might not always write about art, but I'll always be an artist - and not a writer – who just happens to make books.”
Catalogue Number: 9781913430023
