You just can’t fake funny, says Andrew Sean Greer

Andrew Sean Greer is the author of five novels, the most recent of which, Less, won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize. Described by many as ‘laugh out loud’ funny, it is about a novelist called Arthur Less who, in order to avoid having to attend the wedding of his ex-boyfriend, travels to a series of literary events across the globe, from Mexico to Italy, France, Morocco, Germany, Japan and India. For Less, the journey is inward, too, as he grapples to come to terms with life and love, rejection and middle-age. On his first appearance at ZeeJLF, he speaks of how it’s something he’s wished for many, many years. Edited excerpts:     

Less, your protagonist, is a writer, gay, nearly 50 – like you. How far is he drawn from your life?

As strange as it sounds, I identify more with the narrator than I do with Arthur Less. But fiction is a strange invention – even though Arthur possesses many of my attributes, including my blue suit, he’s infinitely kinder and more innocent than me. But that, of course, is the trick: I put into this novel, as I do with all my novels, all my current fears and anxieties. I don’t think I could have poked fun at a character who was not a little like myself, so all of the similarities are, in fact, ways for me to find the humour in his situation. I don’t think anyone would believe I’m not writing about myself. But, strange to say, I was and I wasn’t. Arthur is simply the one who looks the most like me! (Although I have to add: I’m not blonde! And I’m not 50!)

Much of the fun and irony of the novel come from the name – Less. How did you come to it?  

Once I had decided to make it a comedy, I needed to give him a name to diminish him – and, since two dear friends of mine have the last name ‘Less’, it immediately came to mind. It was mostly a memory aid for me to keep taking the ground out from underneath him (with, of course, the promise of some eventual reward).

Appearances, readings, lectures, festivals, residencies – the writers’ profession is no longer a solitary one. How does it impact the actual writing?

It is a distraction. A writer should really focus on producing words every day according to a reliable schedule and expectation – it’s a bit like a marathon that way. Athletes, for instance, who become celebrities and go on promotional tours instead of going to the gym tend to lose their credibility. Authors as well. Luckily [for me], travel is a consistent way for me to get out of my own head and think about a new novel in the background. The new experiences, stories and people have a way of giving me answers.

Do you travel to a lot of literary events around the world?

Until this year, I had not been invited to many international literary events. I didn’t even know there were so many! So no – mostly my travels have been for magazine articles or residencies. But the ZeeJLF is different – it’s quite famous among writers and if you don’t tell anybody, I will admit that for years and years I’ve told friends to drop my name that I would love to come to Jaipur. Years and years – and now at last it has come true!

Less is a comic novel, your first. Is it harder to write in the comic vein than to write seriously?

I think the hard part, for me, for any story is finding the proper way to tell it. Comedy has never seemed the right path before – or perhaps, I simply took myself too seriously. I can’t say if comedy is harder – it certainly takes more attention to pacing than solemn fiction. And in some ways, if it isn’t funny on the first draft, it never will be, which is not true of revision in a serious scene. But in one way it’s easier: emotions are easier to get at, and sentimentality is not such a threat. But while you can’t often use mere technique to plow through a solemn novel, in a comic one it’s impossible. You just can’t fake funny.

All your novels are so different from each other. How do the stories, plots come to you? Is there a common theme running through them? 

To me, all the novels are really talking about similar fears, and I think that’s why they are so different: I am looking at the same questions from different angles. Long ago, a woman on an airplane asked me what my books were about. I had only written three by then, but I answered: “Love and the passage of time.” I think, for once, I was right on the money.

Have you begun work on your next book? What is it about?

I have, and I won’t breathe a word about it!