Yann Martel

but from the inside, when they were angry, it seemed legitimate.

So I wanted the same thing with Harlow Dunn, for him to make judgment calls that were mistakes, but maybe seemed too late.

Well, it anchored it.

It allowed me to point out discrepancies, you know, things that are different from the Iliad.

It allowed me to create that parallel.

Right away, that was, right from the start, I wanted this knoll to be in these two strands.

And very early on, those of you who haven't seen the book, if you open it, you'll see the pages divided in two.

The top half, you have...

these fragments of this verse epic on the top.

And at the end you have footnotes that comment on obviously on the text.

So it's a novel in verse and footnotes.

And that came early on right away.

I wanted, because otherwise I'd have to have this awkward thing where in full pages, the academic finds this thing.

This ancient epic serves it up on a platter at his convenience.

In other words, the present, the past would be at the service of the present.

I didn't want that.

I want there be quality.

So each one, so the top of the page is the past, the public-facing part of art, let's say, the grand epic.

And at the bottom, you have the technical little footnotes.

It's a present.