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Journalist Rachid Filali

                  Sits Down with Canadian Novelist Lisa de Nikolits

 

RF:  Is scientific culture necessary to the novelist to create a virtual world, I mean, what is the boundary between reality and imagination to write fiction? What do you think of magical realism?

 

LDN: Gosh, there are lots of elements to this question! Let me start with “is scientific culture necessary to the novelist…” I believe the answer to be no. It’s not necessary. If we take novels such at George Orwell’s 1984 which was first published in 1949 or even A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, 

published in 1962 – both of those contained concepts about a scientific reality that did not yet exist but which now does. The writing preceded the science in the same way gadgets and gizmos on Star Trek seemed to be flights of screenwriting fantasy and yet, here we are today, clutching iPods and iPhones and iPads and all sorts of things that would have looked right at home on the Starship Enterprise. Perhaps it’s the unfettered imagination of the novelist that paves the way for science. Perhaps the writers, with our wild and free imaginations, provide ideas that that scientists then make real. The marriage of science and art results in the off-spring of a world striding forward in terms of invention. 

 

To answer your second question, what do I think of magical realism… I love it! While I have not yet used any elements of magical realism in my novels, I am working on a collection of short stories titled Cannibals of The Afterlife and those works all have aspects of magical realism in them. I find it every exciting and something that comes naturally to me — my mind makes magical jumps that makes perfect sense to me. I’m not sure though, how my stories will be received but the joy is in their development. I would say that magical realism will feature increasingly in my writing, moving forward, and I’d love to do an entire novel. I’m not sure how many publishers would embrace it. 

 

RF: We are in the era of the novel but with the spirit of poetry is still a strong presence. Why do you think?

 

LDN: The spirit of poetry is essential and yes, most certainly is a strong presence. I’m not a good poet by any means but I do find poetry to be a wonderful vehicle or tool to get my ideas going – many a long work has come from a few lines of poetry scribbled down. Poetry is to writing 

is like vanilla essence to a cake – a few tiny drops makes a powerful impact.

Sometimes, as a treat, when I’ve been working very hard at my writing, I take myself off to a poetry bootcamp, which is a workshop for a day and it’s such fun! I find it refreshing for my brain and very stimulating too. A poem is a great way to set a tone for a story or novel – I often write an accompanying poem that will feature in the novel. I have poems in both my novels, The Hungry Mirror and West of Wawa. 

 

RF:  Do you prefer writing poetry or the novel in order to express the existential anxiety?

 

LDN: Ah, the existential anxiety! There is no escaping it. As mentioned above, I’m not a talented poet but you pose an interesting question. For me personally, to choose which writing would best express my own existential anxiety, I would answer poetry or the short story. But to express the existential anxiety in a novel is much harder, I think, because people are so afraid. They’re afraid to read about it, and afraid to publish it. People are terrified of the existential anxiety, as if acknowledging it will result in the nihilism of the self. I studied Philosophy at 

a university many, many years ago and I fell in love with the Existentialists, their message resonated deeply. And years later, I was strongly drawn to Buddhism, despite having been educated as 

Catholic and I find many similarities of thought between Buddhism and Existentialism.