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January 21, 2011
Blurring the lines between
Sheila Heti’s latest novel smartly mixes fiction with reality.
OLGA LIVSHIN
Sheila Heti’s new book has an unusual title, ending with a question mark: How Should a Person Be? The author named the heroine of her novel after herself, and the book reflects not only the fictional Sheila’s musings, but also the real Sheila’s contemplations on the meanings of art and life and the hazards of relationships in contemporary times.
How Should a Person Be? is the young Canadian author’s third book. In 2005, she published a novel, Ticknor, and her short story collection The Middle Stories was released in 2001. But writing fiction is only one aspect of Heti’s multifaceted talent. She writes essays for the New York Times, the Guardian and other publications, and her interviews with artists, filmmakers and comedians have been regularly published in the Believer, an American literary magazine. Together with a friend, Heti created the Trampoline Hall lecture series in Toronto in 2001. The series has been running monthly ever since, and each event has sold out. She also participated in Margaux Williamson’s film Teenager Hamlet, which was released in 2010.
The Independent talked to Heti at the Sylvia Hotel, where she stayed while on her book promotion tour in Vancouver earlier this month.
JI: In your latest novel, your heroine seems to be digging inside herself, searching for answers. Are you, too, searching for answers?
SH: Yes. I’ve always been curious about the world, about the mysteries of life. Why we live the way we do. Where it all started.
JI: How much of the fictional Sheila Heti is the real you?
SH: She is a mix of [the] real me and my imagination. The questions she asks are often my questions, but what happens to her is not always what happened to me; the scenes don’t all come from my life. The novel is just a book. I don’t feel vulnerable, like I’m revealing myself in it.
JI: Why did you decide to use the real names of you and your friends in the book?
SH: Margaux [Williamson] is my friend. I started recording our talks with her early on, long before I knew there was going to be a book. When I transcribed the recordings and started working on a book, it felt phony to change the names.
JI: How did she react to being a character in your book?
SH: Margaux read lots of drafts, but she didn’t try to control the book. We both took on the risk of me writing about her consciously. It was important for me not to hurt her. It wouldn’t have been a book I could publish, if it hurt her.
JI: Tell me about the Trampoline Hall lecture series.
SH: Trampoline Hall is the name of the show, not a place. It comes from the comic artist Ben Katchor. I created the show together with my friend Misha Glouberman, and he has been hosting it. Every event consists of three lectures delivered by three different people. They talk about anything but their professions. At first, it was like having short relationships with interesting people. I asked everyone I knew to appear on the show. I spoke once, with the lecture Why Go Out? My father was on it once. It wasn’t always easy to find three different people for each show. By 2005, I was tired of finding people for the show, so I quit, but the show is still running.
JI: Tell me about the movie you made with Margaux.
SH: Margaux had an idea to split artists into two categories: Hamlets and Ophelias. Hamlets are concerned with justice; Ophelias, with beauty. I interviewed the Hamlets in the movie. One of our friends, Sholem, who is also in my book, interviewed the Ophelias. The movie came out in 2008. It premièred at the Toronto International Film Festival.
JI: In one of your interviews for the Believer you mention a theory that everyone does professionally what is their second love. Does it apply to you? Is writing your second love? If so, what is your first love?
SH: Maybe my first love was acting. I wanted to act when I was little but I felt I wasn’t good enough. When I wrote, I felt transported. I never felt this way when I acted.
JI: One of your recent interviews in the Believer was with the comedian Charlyne Yi. There seem to be many similarities between you and her. She is very versatile and so are you. She made a movie with a character named after herself, and you wrote a book with a character also named after yourself.
SH: Yes, that’s why I wanted to interview her. I’m interested in art where the border between fiction and non-fiction blurs. I think that there is always some fiction in any non-fiction. And there is some reality in fiction too. But the stuff in the middle is the most exciting for me.
More about Heti’s work can be found on her website, at sheilaheti.net.
Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She’s available for contract work. Contact her at [email protected].
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