Interviews--Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 10, 2021
The late Barry Lopez once observed that “the wolf exerts a powerful influence on the human imagination. It takes your stare and turns it back on you.”
For Lopez, part of what this reflected gaze revealed was our failure to comprehend that we are not separate from the world, or other species.
But it also served as a reminder of the existence of other ways of being, as meaningful in themselves as our own. These failures endure. But in a world now shaped by human activity and defined by hastening ecosystem collapse and extinction, they have acquired a new urgency.
NOTE: Barry Lopez was an American author, essayist, nature writer, and fiction writer whose work is known for its humanitarian and environmental concerns.
Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 10, 2021
Charlotte McConaghy’s new novel, Once There Were Wolves, is animated by this reality. Its narrator, scientist Inti Flynn, is head of a project that aims to reintroduce wolves to Scotland. Like the famous Yellowstone rewilding project, Inti’s project is at one level about environmental repair: wolves control deer numbers, reducing the pressure on seedling trees and allowing the forests to regenerate.
But it is also about something deeper: an attempt to regenerate the world, to recover some of its complexity and wonder.
Even before the wolves have been released, Inti’s project meets with opposition from many of the locals, in particular the farmers. For some, this is simply concern about the safety of their flocks, or fear the wolves might prey upon humans.
Others, though, see the wolves and the return of the forest as an affront to their way of life. “I want to see glens dotted with sheep and people. People are the lifeblood of a place,” declares one farmer early in the book.
This mood darkens even further once the wolves are released, and, almost immediately, one of the wolves is killed by a farmer.
Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 10, 2021
And as our gaze is reflected back at the human world, what we find is not easy to look at: cruelty, violence, and, perhaps most importantly, a lack of empathy, not just for other species, but for each other.
Or as one of McConaghy’s characters reflects towards the end of this gripping and often very moving novel, “when you open your heart to rewilding a landscape, the truth is, you’re opening your heart to rewilding yourself.”
Cast of characters
Inti Flynn—heads the project to "rewild" wolves at the Cairngorm national park
she has mirror touch synesthesia, and an identical twin sister
NOTE: one of this novel's themes is "mirroring"
Aggie Flynn—Inti's twin sister, her "shadow sister"
she marries Gus Holloway. a neuro surgeon
Knows languages, and creates her own, one she shares with Inti
Cast of characters
Alexander, their father, "logger-turned-forest-dwelling-naturalist," who feels an affinity with the lonely Douglas fir left standing after logging has destroyed the forest in which it lives.
NOTE: logging, cutting down entire forests, is one of the sub-themes in this novel; it's the destruction of plant life, the environment, and an ecosystem
Mother, "city-bound-gritty-crime-detective" who lives in Sydney in a concrete apartment building. She solves homicides, tells Inti to "toughen up" because she has to protect herself against the world. Although she calls herself a "realist," others might term her cynical.
NOTE: You might say that these parents represent opposite extremes in their perspectives on the world, both flawed.
Cast of characters
Duncan MacTavish
local police chief, a "bloodhound" when it comes to solving crimes, suspects Inti of being involved in Stuart's murder, but then she suspects him
a native, raised locally, who therefore knows everyone's history and understands their point of view on the re-introduction of wolves
protective of inti, although she's not sure if she can trust him, considers him a suspect in the murder of Stuart Burns
at 16, killed his father after his father had killed his mother, not charged on grounds of "defense of another"
attacked by Aggie because Inti fears him, he survives because Inti managed to get him to the hospital; he's also the father of Inti's baby
Bonnie Patel—fellow police officer
Cast of characters
Ray "Red" McRae, raises sheep, kills the first wolf although it has not crossed the river onto his land. Inti wants him charged, but Duncan doesn't follow through.
His father is Douglas, a member of the knitting club, and more liberal minded than we might expect, understands that sheep farming may not survive.
All of the knitting club members seem more attuned to environmental issues, which Inti discovers only when she visits
Red of course finds Inti after she has had the baby, and gets her to the hospital, credits her with saving Duncan, and acknowledges the "trophy" wolf kill, thus ending the antagonism between them. He calls off the hunt.
Gus Holloway—neuro surgeon whom Aggie marries
admits that he killed someone when his knife slipped during surgery
arranges the gang rape of Aggie
Inti threatens to kills him, draws blood on his throat, but doesn't kill
Cast of characters
Stuart Burns, wife Lainey, whom he abuses, she had a relationship with Duncan
original owner of the horse Gall that Inti buys
killed by Aggi because he threatens Inti for payment, stalks her, and because she is the "wolf woman"
Niels, Norwegian member of Inti's team of wolf biologists
Zoe, American member
Amelia, the vet
Evan, botanist
Mrs. Doyle, who works in the pharmacy and volunteers planting trees
Fergus--pilot
Ann Barrie
Andy Oakis, Mayor
Questions for discussion
This novel is told in 1st person, in other words, Inti is the narrator and therefore we as readers see the characters and events only from her perspective. Why has McConaghy chosen this perspective?
Questions for discussion
Inti's MTS means that she feels fear, danger, threat as well as more positive feelings. How does this empathy with other humans, and animals, affect her?
Questions for discussion
This novel contains a number of dramatic scenes. Which one, or ones, do you find most memorable or significant?
Questions for discussion
There's a lot of violence in this novel.
Where does violence come from?
Is the source of violent behavior different among the different characters?
Is it a reaction to another event, such as trauma?
Are wolves guilty of violence? If so, under what circumstances?
Is it preventable?
Is there a solution?
If this violence is generated by anger, what's the source of the anger?
Languages
"There are languages without words and violence is one of them.
As a teenager Aggie was already a language genius. She spoke four fluently and was learning several more. But it was not only spoken languages that she understood; Aggie knew, too, that there were some that did not need voices.
By the time we were ten there was the sign language she’d invented so we could communicate privately. She’d built a world for the two of us to live within and we would each be perfectly happy never to leave it.
When we were sixteen she started learning the language of violence; she broke a boy’s nose, and she did it for me, as most of the things she did were for me." p. 42
How do languages function in this novel?
Questions for discussion
In some ways, this novel is a comparison between human society, or civilization, and wolf society. What does the novel say about each?
Questions for discussion
Why does Inti feel that the forest is her home and that wolves are her family? What does she see in them?
Questions for discussion
Early in their relationship both Inti and Duncan are described as "broken." How are they "broken"? How do they help each other heal and, as they say, save each other?
Breakout room question
Although it does have a happy ending, this is a complicated, difficult novel. So what did you come away with?
Conclusions
We know that the wolves, an apex predator species, when re-introduced into Yellowstone Park, created profound changes in the entire ecosystem, changes that even scientists hadn't expected.
“My father used to say the world turned wrong when we started separating ourselves from the wild, when we stopped being one with the rest of nature, and sat apart. He said we might survive this mistake if we found a way to rewild ourselves." (p. 74)
So ultimately this book is how to "rewild" ourselves, to reintroduce ourselves to the natural world, just as we're reintroducing wolves. The problem is the lack of connection, lack of communication, lack of empathy and understanding such reintroduction requires.
Conclusions
So, one of the themes running throughout this novel is "mirroring." As identical twins, Inti and Aggie are mirror images of one another; in fact, Inti refers to Aggie as her "shadow sister." One is a reflection of the other, although they are also distinct individuals. And of course, on occasion, they "swap" personalities, one pretends to be the other.
And Aggie's fear and Inti's anger and distrust are also reflected in the townspeople and their attitudes toward the wolves. Inti's anger in particular is a reflection of Red's and Stuart's. As angry and distrustful as Inti's is in defense of the wolves, some of the sheep farmers are equally angry and distrustful about the introduction of wolves into their territory.
Conclusions
And wolves are themselves as territorial and habit-bound as are the townspeople. Later in the novel, two wolves are found killed by Inti and her team, killed by a competing pack over territory. Wolves too have their rules, their boundaries, developed in their own defense against other wolf packs and humans. Their survival is at stake. The sheep farmers feel the same.
Yet anger and distrust prevent real communication. Inti admits toward the end of the novel, after she has visited the knitting club, that she should have approached this differently. But she was so focused on the wolves, and their introduction to a new habitat, that she neglected to see the impact on the local population and their response to this change.
Conclusions
Nature, and the trees in particular, are trying to tell her that every species has its rules, its habits, its methods of communication. Trees literally communicate and share with one another through their root systems.
“The forest has a beating heart we can’t see . . .This is how the trees speak with and care for each other. Their roots tangle together, dozens of trees with dozens more in a web that reaches on forever, and they whisper to each other through their roots. They warn of danger and they share sustenance. They’re like us, a family. Stronger together. Nothing gets through this life alone.” (p. 71)
“It’s not a forest. It’s one tree. One huge organism. It’s called the trembling giant and it’s the oldest living thing on this planet, and the largest. Some think it could be a million years old. And it’s dying. We’re killing it.” (p. 72)
Conclusions
And this is where the theme of empathy comes in—Inti's MTS (mirror-touch synesthesia). She can literally feel what others are feeling and in fact responds as they do. But her focus is on the wolves, and her sister; for example, when she darts a wolf with a tranquilizer from the plane, she herself collapses. Luckily, she's strapped in.
And when she darts a deer to feed the caged wolves on their arrival, she can't kill it. Duncan does—because he feels her distress. She empathizes with the wildlife, he empathizes with her.
It's only after she visits the knitting club, and discovers that Douglas is much more in tune with her mission, that she begins to communicate and empathize. He knows that sheep farming may not last. And Mrs. Doyle plants trees, up north, for the Trees for Life organization.
Conclusions
Another theme is violence, and anger. Duncan says:
“Men get taught to expect control but a modern society no longer supports that, so some men feel it slipping and it humiliates them. The humiliation makes them angry, and then violent.” (p. 129).
Spring Schedule
Great Books in Genres
Online—Wednesdays, 10:45 to 12
In Person—Thursdays, 12:45 to 2
Novels come in several genres, among them historical novels, subdivided into fiction and those based on fact adapted for fiction. And mysteries can be cozies, or puzzles, or detective fiction. Then there's the epistolary novel, written as letters. And we can't forget the epic novel or the memoir. So, in this course, we will study genres and read novels that represent only the "best of the best" for each genre.
See the website for specifics at https://sites.google.com/udel.edu/booksgenres
Categories and books
Historical novels—fiction but based on fact (myriads of these)
The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah (new one coming out, maybe in time)
A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
The Alice Network, (and many others), Kate Quinn
The Secret River, Kate Grenville
Marriage Portrait, Maggie O'Farrell
Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell
Horse, Geraldine Brooks
All the Light We Cannot See, Doerr
Storyteller's Secret—(also cross cultural)
Mary Coin, Marissa Silver (based on the Migrant Mother photo)
A Piece of the World, Christina Baker Kline (based on Wyeth's painting)
Categories and books
Historical novels—based on fact
Several on the role of women as journalists, especially in the early days, when their stories generated a new perspective
But there are many novels about the accomplishments of women that history has overlooked.
Categories and books
Mystery—classic
Dorothy Sayers, Gaudy Night, or any of the Peter Wimsey novels
Dashiell Hammett (maybe)
Tana French, In the Woods, The Searcher, The Witch Elm, (she has a new one coming out, a follow-up to The Searcher, but not published in time)
Mystery—puzzles
Anthony Horowitz—several possibilities
Epistolary
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Meet me at the Museum
Categories and books
Epic
The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese (or Cutting for Stone)
Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver
A Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan
Claire Keegan (any of her novels, short, but epic)
Salt Creek, Lucy Treloar
The Secret River, Kate Grenville
Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier
Categories and books
Memoir
Started Early, Took My Dog, Kate Atkinson
The Weight of Ink, Rachel Kadish
Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
Personal Librarian, Marie Benedict
A Single Thread, Tracy Chevalier
Novels featuring animals/nature
Watership Down, Richard Adams
Once There Were Wolves
Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby VanPelt
Peter Mathieson—several
Books about libraries/librarians
The Bookseller of Florence, Ross King—Renaissance illuminated manuscripts.
The Underground Library, Jennifer Ryan—coming out 2024
The Little Wartime Library, Kate Thompson
The Lost Library, Rebecca Stead
The Library Book, Susan Orlean
The Paris Library, Janet-Skeslien-Charles
Possible theme
"Women of a certain age"—article/discussion by Lisa Gornick who hosts Julia Alvarez, Fiona Davis, Andrea Lee, and Elizabeth Strout
Julia Alvarez:
Just as your first question arrived in my inbox, and I was wondering, oh dear, how to get a handle on this big question, an email rolled in from a reader who had just finished my last novel, Afterlife, in which the protagonist, Antonia, is an older woman. The reader wrote:
Afterlife spoke to me on many levels. Poetry! Spanish! Culture! Grief! The book came to me at just the right time as it has taken me many life chapters to arrive here. I feel that my life is “kintsugi” putting all the pieces together to make it whole and beautiful.
¡Muchas Gracias!
Women of a certain age
Julia Alvarez:
She gave me my answer! At this point in my own life (seventy-three years old) I too have many chapters behind me and if I’m lucky a few more to go. My kind reader references “kintsugi,” a Japanese concept of “repair” that does not try to hide or “beautify” the broken places and pieces, the wear and tear, scars and losses in our lives, but instead embraces them.
It’s a concept that my protagonist in Afterlife, Antonia (my same age!) finds helpful in moving forward with her life after enduring many losses. Writing about Antonia was a way for me to understand and embrace the fullness of this time in our lives. Aging has brought a lot of aches and pains and failing body parts but the view is incredible! To quote the African-American activist Ruby Sales (seventy-five): “I’ve now got hindsight and foresight and insight.”
Women of a certain age
Julia Alvarez:
What I aspire to in this stage in my life is being an elder. All of us, if we live long enough, will grow old but only a few will become elders. This elderhood is something we make of ourselves, not a given. It means, as with kintsugi, that we gather all of ourselves (no cherry-picking allowed!), our many layers, chapters, and embrace them and use them in service to others, most especially the younger generations that need our support, our high spirits, our solidarity going forward.
I no longer feel that burning ambition to make something of myself, to please others whether it’s my immigrant parents, or a love interest. Instead I am who I am, no monolithic impermeable self, but a changing, work in progress, and sometimes regress. That, too, has to be embraced, as we are bound to keep getting it wrong. There is no road map for getting old, as there was none for growing up, but we were given road maps by others, which often led us astray. So here’s to these discoveries and recoveries.
Happy Holidays
Hope to see you next spring!