BEST AUTHOR BEST : ADAM HASLETT [1]

 

The writer wishes more writers tackled '' how, where, when and why people experience wonder and awe.'' His own new book '' Mothers and Sons,'' explores '' the theme of incomprehension between generations.''

.-  Did your law degree help in exploring the  legal asylum system in the new book?

YES, going back to law school is like a new language, and once you can read it, you can get  a more granular sense of how people wield it and the habits of mind it encourages, which is to say a sense of character.

If you want to write about doctors, for instance, it helps to know what their training does to their perceptions.

.-  What other research did it require?

Mostly talking to immigration lawyers, sitting in immigration court, and learning a good deal about the history of modern Albania.

.-  What books are on your night stand?

'' The Fabric of the Cosmos,'' by Brian Greene, a wonderfully detailed account for lay people of what relativity, quantum physics and string theory have to say about physical reality.

'' Ornament of Precious Liberation,'' a kind of monastic handbook on the stages of Buddhist doctrine, by Gampopa, a 12th century Tibetan master.

Also, '' Harrow,'' by Joy Williams, whose sentences make me smile again and again, and '' The Gallery,'' by John Horne Burns, a smoky, boozy and occasionally gay vision of Naples at the end of World War II.

.-  What books might people be surprised to find on your shelves?

A lot of Immanuel Kant. A lot of English Romantic poetry, And lot of books on drug trafficking.

.-  Describe your ideal reading experience?

Late afternoon, early evening, recumbent, either learning something new to me, or absorbed in a novel the rhythms of which put the rest of the world at rest.

.-  What's the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?

That lithium, the salt form of which is used to treat manic depression, was one of only three elements present at the birth of the universe,  along with hydrogen and helium.

As if the cosmos were for a mental health crisis 13 billion years in the making.

.- '' His prose exudes a desolation so choking that it can come only from somewhere deep inside,''  a New York Times reviewer wrote of your first book. How did that land with you?

As a high compliment!

.-  In hindsight, was being a Pulitzer Prize finalist for that book a blessing or a curse?

A blessing for sure. There's nothing like encouragement, for a first book. Encouragement and the respect of one's peers.

'' Keep going '' - that's what writers need to hear, because there are so many sound reasons not to.

The Publishing continues to Part [2]. The World Students Society thanks The New York Times.