Baroque-a-Nova
by Kevin Chong
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INTRODUCTION
Part of a famous folk singing troupe experiencing a revival, Saul St. Pierre's mother Helena commits suicide in Thailand, leaving her son to wonder about the mother who had abandoned him in infancy. Meanwhile, Saul is swept up in a controversy surrounding a mysterious book that leads to a book banning, crank calls, and a student walk-out.
In the week between his mother's death and her burial, 18-year-old Saul will face the public obsession with his parents' lives and the far more complicated private truth of his family's past. A funny and lyrical story about messy lives, Baroque-a-Nova marks the debut of a rising star on the Canadian literary scene.
ABOUT KEVIN CHONG
Kevin Chong was born in Hong Kong and raised in Vancouver, where he attended the University of British Columbia. He received his MFA from Columbia University in New York City. He currently lives in Vancouver and is writing a second novel.
AN INTERVIEW WITH KEVIN CHONG
Can you tell us a little about your background-where you grew up, things you've done?
I was born in Hong Kong, grew up in Vancouver, attended UBC there, and completed a Master's degree in New York.
How did you got started as a fiction-writer?
In the most prosaic, typical way: I took writing classes at UBC and liked those classes much more than lit classes. It took off from there.
How did you come to write Baroque-a-Nova?
Growing up I was a big fan of Neil Young and read a lot about his days as a folk singer in Toronto's Yorkville coffeehouse circuit. I wanted to write a book that incorporated a music element, but I also wanted it to be contemporary.
What is your reaction when people compare Saul in Baroque-a-nova to Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye? Did you have Holden in mind at all when you were writing?
Not really, but the comparisons are not surprising. Any book about a teenager who s somewhat angst-ridden will be compared to Catcher, which is a wonderful novel. There are worse books to be compared to. Honestly, although Saul is not autobiographical, his sense of cynicism is not unlike my own when I first started writing it when I was 23. I make my characters younger than me so they seem less stupid—and more forgivable.
How did you end up deciding to study writing at Columbia University rather than somewhere else?
It was an opportunity to live in New York, and it was a wonderful experience.
How do you follow up on the success of Baroque-a-nova? Are you working on another novel?
I've started about six second novels, and I hope to finish at least one of them sometime soon.
Who are some other writers whose work you admire?
Off the top of my head and in no particular order: Haruki Murakami, Denis Johnson, Paul Auster, Charles Baxter, Willa Cather, V.S. Pritchett, Leo Tolstoy, and Donald Barthelme.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- How is the epigraph quotation from Donald Barthelme appropriate to the story which is told in Baroque-a-nova? What does it imply about the difference between how people talk about things and how those things really are?
- One of the many humorous episodes in the novel is when Marina grabs the microphone from Saul and then does an impression of how some young people talk (pp. 78-79). What are some of the distinguishing characteristics of this way of talking? Do you find Marina's parody both funny and accurate?
- In his description of Marina, Saul gives the following as one of her most appealing traits: "She appreciated attempts to communicate and behave with authenticity" (p. 102). This respect for people who are sincere and genuine, and disrespect for those who are fake, is one of the major themes in the novel. Which characters are "authentic" in this sense? Saul? His father? His mother? Navi? What about the other characters?
- What Saul describes as the "big blowup" between him and his father comes on Sunday. In a long speech to Saul (pp. 178-180), his father offers a wide variety of advice and opinion, ranging from the politically incorrect ("Women. They land where the wind blows") to the confessional ("I admit to being a poor father") to the semi-philosophical ("We can't expect perfection to last more than seconds, minutes"). What does this speech tell you about Saul's father? Does it all seem to be sincere?
- Why does Saul blame his father for his mother's death?
- Saul says of his mother's funeral: "It was like a cruel TV show, something Richard might have hosted back in Germany, where secret guests lurked backstage in soundproof rooms and curtains drew open to reveal kitchen appliances" (p. 196). In what ways is this an accurate and appropriate description? What does it indicate about Saul's feelings about the relationship between the media and real life?
- Saul describes his father as a "cheap, embittered lecher" (p. 56). Does this assessment seem to be accurate? What, if any, are some of his father's more positive traits?
- How would you characterize Saul's feelings about his mother? Does he seem to respect her and her musical career? Is he protective of her? Is he angry at her for any reason?
- What do you think of Navi's poem "Absence," which is about the cat he does not have (pp. 94-95)? What are the various things which the poem seems to be satirizing? Do you notice any details in the poem which reflect themes or topics that are covered elsewhere in the novel?
- Saul says that what he likes most about his girlfriend, Rose - and her house - is "not only the cleanliness, but the effort, the energy put into removing the grimy and the unsavory" (p. 55). How do those traits contrast with Saul's life and the lives of his family and friends?
- A Question of Detail: What is the origin of "Bushmills" in "Bushmills Threnody"? ?
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