Interview with author of timeless The Hours

The Hours, a Pulitzer Prizewinning novel written by Michael Cunningham and recently made into a major motion picture, is about the intertwining lives of three women living in post-World War II America. One character is based on Mrs. Dalloway, the title character of a famous Virginia Woolf novel; another is based on the 1920s London author herself; and the third is Laura Brown, a 1950s housewife trying to be everything to her husband and son who slowly loses herself in the process. Below are Cunningham's articulate answers to questions about his college inspirations, his thoughts about the movie, and the promise he made to Julianne Moore at the end of filmmaking.



Tufts Daily: What about Virginia Woolf makes you want to integrate her character into your novel?

MC: Woolf was the first great writer I ever read. I read Mrs. Dalloway in college, and I remember thinking that though I didn't understand the book, I could see the sentences; I could see the music and complexity. She could do with language what Hendrix does with a guitar. It thrilled me in a way that language never had before, and I hoped to do something one tenth as good as that. It started me thinking about reading and writing. It was my first book, the way you have a first kiss.



TD: What's it like to be a male author portraying a woman's intimate thoughts?

MC: That's rather mysterious. I can either get a character or not get a character. Gender doesn't seem to make all that much difference. There may be questions of character that run deeper than our genders. I also feel like I don't know everything about women, but I think women know men very well and men know women. Writers are just the ones who sit alone in a room for years, thinking about it.



TD: Did you expect the novel to be a hit?

MC: Never. Neither did my agent, my publisher, my editor, anybody. The plan was to get out very few copies and retire as gracefully as possible.



TD: Did you take anything away from the movie that you hadn't before? Did it teach you anything about writing?

MC: It taught me what the actors do; lose language but gain Meryl Streep's ability to separate an egg that tells you miles about what she's thinking. You can have her break down in a bathroom but say "I'm fine" in a perfectly cheerful voice. You can't get that in a novel.



TD: How did you feel after winning the Pulitzer?

MC: I honestly thought, "What next? Is it all downhill from here?" I struggled with that for awhile, and then decided, well, if everyone's gonna hate the next book I write, I'm free to write whatever I want! I might as well work with that.





TD: What were your other influences, besides Woolf?

MC: I was in college during the 70s renaissance of movies. Godfather, The Conversation... every week, another great movie out. This has affected my writing. I don't have that thing about books and movies and TV as discreet entities that must not interact. We're surrounded by stories in so many forms I think they should bleed.



TD: Was there any kind of message you were trying to send with the book?

MC: I'm not trying to send a message; messages don't belong in fiction. You lose sight of the lives of your characters, because we as humans don't fit any political agenda too well. We are complicated, and we are criminal of terrible acts of selfishness. I believe a man can be a feminist, and I think of myself as one. If I can be of any help to portray as accurately as possible the lives of women, that's great.



TD: How do you define the sexuality of your main characters?

MC: I don't think the women could be described as gay or straight... I want to help complicate our sense of sexuality. I don't think the terms gay, straight, or even bisexual tell us anything about the idiosyncrasies of our sexualities.



TD: Would you write a screenplay without writing a novel?

MC: I would love to. I promised Julianne Moore she'd play someone who isn't neurotic and doesn't have any children whatsoever.



TD: Do you have a target audience?

MC: Not really. I guess I just think of any novel I write as being intended for somebody smarter than I am.