Ok, to change the subject briefly, I was wondering if, in light of Valentine’s Day, you could talk about the way you approach writing about relationships in your novels. Virgil seems to view the relationship he doesn’t remember having as something akin to a dream, a movie he doesn’t recall seeing. It is, essentially, something that exists abstractly to him but that to everyone around him exists as something undeniable. An assumed truth. The difference is something straight out of a Philip K. Dick novel—is the relationship symbolic, in any way, of something larger?
Virgil has great capacity for guilt. Therefore he thinks that the problem comes from him. In fact, Clara certainly plays a trick on him to attract his attention at one point. But we don’t know for sure and there’s no answer, because ultimately this is not the point. The important thing is Virgil’s inner journey, that he wakes up, that he comes to himself.
It is not to be unrealistic to describe a reality that is not the same for all, a strange reality. To me, Philip K. Dick is a realistic writer. I am more interested in using the fantastic but making it plausible. Being at the border.
I think we’re good at not seeing those (friends, family) around us. And very good at forgetting those we have known. Humans have eyes to not see and ears to not hear. We are ghosts to each other. Most of the time. For most people. It is not uncommon for married people to get divorced and realize they have lived for decades with a stranger. To see, hear, or learn about someone is not easy, it’s not obvious. This takes work, time and practice.
