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© Tess Fragoulis
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Tess Fragoulis, who was born in Crete, jokes that the recurring themes of love, sex, death and exile in both her short story collection, Stories to Hide from Your Mother, and first novel, Ariadne's Dream, come from the "tragic gene" she inherited from her motherland. Her recently completed novel, inspired by Greek blues music she heard a decade ago on CBC radio, is about music, drugs and war in the 1920s in Greece and Asia Minor. Fragoulis, who teaches part-time at Concordia, took time to speak to Montréal Magazine.
Montréal Magazine: What's a writer's life like?
Tess Fragoulis: It's not as romantic as it might seem. It's not about inspiration; it's about sitting down and doing work every day even when you don't feel like it, staring at stuff until you're sick of looking at it. Who goes to work every day and loves it? It's the same thing.
MM: Is there a genre you prefer to work in?
TF: I'm at heart a short story writer. I just have a natural inclination for it. I've written two novels now and I've enjoyed them but I like the instant gratification of a short story. A short story is a punch in the head. Just get in there and whack 'em and then you're out.
MM: Do readers ever confuse you with your characters?
TF: People who have read my books first have a certain impression, certain expectations of what my personality will be like or how out there I am.
What I used to tell people with the first book is, "Okay, um, if you believe all of the weird, dark, sexual things, do you also believe that when someone kisses me, spiders come streaming out of my ears? Where do we draw the line? Does it really matter, the story at hand, if it's real or not, if it comes from my experience?"
"If you believe all of the weird, dark, sexual things, do you also believe that when someone kisses me, spiders come streaming out of my ears?"
MM: What question do you wish interviewers would ask?
TF: I'm going to give you the answer. My first inspiration in terms of story and words and writing came from comic books and song lyrics. I kind of have a comic book sensibility, though I write literary fiction. It wasn't until university that I started reading the great works of literature. So there's a big admission.
MM: Do you ever feel that the gods are playing tricks on you?
TF: : I don't know! I have a certain curiosity?which means I get myself into all sorts of situations in life that saner and more stable people might not. I can get carried away by story. The minute you get carried away by story, things happen in life that you're not in control of and you feel that someone is looking down from above just laughing at you, "Ha, ha!" I know I have felt that.
MM: What do you hope readers gain from your work?
TF: I'm hoping it's a deep and intense experience. I hope that they see the humor in even the dark stuff.
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