Photo credit: MICHALIS Skourlis for Greek newspaper PROTO THEMA.
Words pale to describe how much I adore getting email from Lux Lotus readers. One recent correspondence that's been a pleasure is my funny, friendly exchange with impossibly cool young Greek novelist Evi Labropoulou (above, center). I've been encouraging her to get some of her much-praised work translated into English so we can discover it, and she's also begun writing about her glamourous, Athens-dreading life via her new, hilariously clever blog, hyper.super. This miracle worker also maintains LooDe Punk, an entirely different blog in her native Greek, too! In between her many projects, working with a group of fellow writers, agonizing over the cover for her first novel, soon to be reissued, and commenting on a life well-lived in general, Evi was kind enough to answer some questions via email for us here at Lux Lotus:
''The only standard thing in my life is my hair. Sometimes, though, the wind blows.'' --Happy Loo
"I like sweating with you. I prefer sweating with you to being alone in the coolness of my room." -- Happy Loo
Lauren Cerand for Lux Lotus: What are the pros and cons of living and writing on an island in Greece? Why would you rather be in NEW YORK wishing you were living on an island?
Evi Labropoulou: Pros and cons are basically the same.
Pros. Desolation. And the sea is everywhere -you can dive or just watch it from your balcony. Finally, everything is very laid back here, if you want to have a drink you can just go to a bar where you will probably find some people you know.
Cons. Desolation. And, the sea is everywhere - you can't just get in the car and drive away, you have to wait for a boat, a plane -or otherwise swim if you suddenly decide to go to a party/ a reading/ a concert/ a wedding. This is my lame excuse for not going to weddings. (I rarely miss the parties though). Plus, everything is very laid back - which can be really boring.
New York sounds artsy and fast. I want summers on the island, winters in New York- sounds egoistical, yes. But can I have that? Please?
LC: What are your favorite things about the Greek literary scene? Least favorite?
EL: My favorite thing about the Greek literary scene is the literary parties, and the fact that the literature is in Greek, my language of proficiency.
My least favorite thing is the historical novels that have flooded the bookstores. Plus most Greeks think they can write and unfortunately they do. (That could be said about me too, of course.) A huge number of books is published which also suffers from narcissism and from an obsession with history. So I kinda like it when they say I write American literature. Then again, a huge number of books being published could be a good thing.
More on the con side: it is a big literary scene in a small country, with a rare language. Which offers few possibilities for developing a big readership. American (or Chinese) writers have no idea how lucky they are.
LC: Are young writers supportive of each other?
EL: I am not sure. I am supportive of my writer friends -and them of me, I hope. You see, I am a huge fan of the writers I like. But there is enormous narcissism and insecurity in artistic personalities. I was on a committee for a prize lately, (it is very weird that I actually am in this committee) and was a bit torn, because I had to choose between the writers I like as people and those I like as writers. I chose the latter -it was tough. Furthermore, I was attacked by an anonymous blog commenter lately, and I couldn't sleep for two days. Friends informed me she was some fellow writer I have met! Then I forgot all about it âwell, apparently, not all.
LC: How has the public received your work?
EL: My first book, HAPPY LOO, that was deemed as a low profile, melancholic though funny, somewhat cult book (about a girl who does doctorate studies in London and suffers from insomnia, parental interventions, mupltiple sex-partners and indecision) made an impact. It was strange, suddenly I was on tv and being photographed for magazines, having my hair done by hairdressers and appearing on a couple of best seller lists. Sometimes people would come and talk to me in the street and they hadn't even read the book, they had only seen me on tv. That's when I met this guy, and followed him to the country.
With the second book I made it to the cover of a prestigious newspaper, something like the New York Times Book Review for Greece. This may have been the highlight of my career, I can only dream it will ever happen again!
LC: Are there any plans to translate any of your fiction into English?
EL: There are plans for a German translation, no plans for English yet. But I would so love to be translated in English. I would be able to read it too!
LC: What's the new novel about ?
EL: It's about a woman who falls for another guy. She gives the new guy a lot of shit, cause she thinks it is only lust that she is feeling. Then she returns to the full time guy, at home, and they watch tv. It is about love and lust. A very banal plot, that has to be executed masterfully and given some fresh aspect, or else it can get terribly dull. I am not sure I have achieved this though. If I finally decide it is banal I will not publish it. The title might be All the apples. Or One more piece of cake. What do you think? [LC: All the apples, definitely]
The back cover will be like this:
How much does infidelity cost, what was the song that Sailor sang for Lula in Wild at Heart, and can you built a passion on the fact that you are aware of the answer? Why are you suddenly drawn to a person? Do you leave someone you love for someone you are in lust with? What is best, sex or fantasy, and how can some people just quit love, the way they quit cigarettes? Especially when they do both simultaneously?
LC: Many people are influenced by things outside of the medium they work in, and I'd be curious to know what you're feeling influenced by right now, whether it's art or fashion or film or literature or anything specific that's shaping your aesthetic philosophy of the moment...
EL: Life is a great influence. This means I have to have a life in order to write, no one gets inspiration just by looking at the turbulent sea -bars are a much better place. I use my friends' lives a lot. Some of them are amazing. Some supply great dialogues. One likes to shout at me whenever he sees me, "I want my percentage of the publishing rights!"
PULP FICTION, London, rain, my thesis, Heisenberg, Portishead, Oasis and writer Jay MacInerney have been great influences.
Latest inspiration was derived from a COCOROSIE concert, in Athens, and from film RECONSTRUCTION. Also, by Wim Wenders film, DON'T COME KNOCKING. Something about its aesthetics has affected me and I am sure it will somehow influence my work. Then again, Wenders may have influenced the aesthetic philosophy of my life.
In my new novella I used the "Say fuck me" scene, from WILD AT HEART, where this ugly guy with the bad teeth [Bobby Peru] goes to her and says "say fuck me'' and [Lula] does repeat it⦠until she starts to mean it. In the novella the girl meets this guy who is movie-literate and the fact that he uses the lines of this movie totally turns her on. See, when they first met, he asked her "What did Lula sing for Sailor in Wild at Heart?"
For more of Evi's wit and wisdom, visit her at hyper.super and do prepare to be addicted!
