The Other Press Interview by Trent Ernst @jancouver writer Jack Whyte was one of the feature ) \Jauthors at this year’s Vancouver International Writ- } Jers (& Readers) festival. I had the pleasure of “speaking to Mr.. Whyte recently about his work. Whyte is the author of A Dream of Eagles, a series of nov- els that traces the heritage and lineage of King Arthur. Three books of the cycle have been published so far, out of a pro- jected five. The latest book in the series, The Ea- ——_ November 2, 1994 g LIAI VALS YO BA 4 he hh iL fe ae Ke today call King Arthur. All the legend tells us, and all a anyone ever tells us is that Arthur’s father was Uther Pendragon, and his teacher was a man called Merlin. We don’t know who Arthur’s Grandfathers were - he had two of them - and we don’t know who his great-grandfathers were, and he had four of them, plus four great-grandmothers and two grand- mothers, and that’s what I have created. No one else has done ” that before. T: Is this why in your book Arthur is portrayed as the dying flicker of the Roman flame, instead of as a bright flash of light from the middle gles Brood introduces us to Merlyn, the man destined to be Arthur’s closest advisor. We discussed the characters of Merlyn and Arthur, and the historical and mythological implications of the Arthurian legend during the interview. In person, Whyte is much like his char- acters. Confident in his abilities, yet not egois- tic, he is well spoken, articulate and amiable; intense, yet not overbearing. With his pro- nounced Scottish Brogue and ever-present cigarette, he is the sort of chap you expect to find in the local pub, animatedly discussing ...People see him (Arthur) as a flash from the middle ages. That's where everyone else ts wrong. of the dark ages? J: That’s right. Your other comment % about people see him as a flash from the middle ages. That is where every- body else is wrong. He pre-dated the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages, by defi- nition are around the tenth and elev- enth century. I’m talking the beginning * of the fifth century, so I’m 500 years ahead of anyone else in putting him in place, and I believe that I have put him in the only spot in history where he could possibly have lived. Therefore, he everything and anything with a small group of friends. What follows are excerpts from our conversation. T: You said earlier that your books are not fantasy. Yet Arthurian legend has been dealt with before, and it usually gets lumped in with Fantasy. Does this bother you? Do you consider yourself a historical writer primarily? J: I guess I do... Certainly the Arthurian Legend is a legend and as such is mythical; fantastical, and would seem on the surface to qualify for the fantasy genre, but what I am writing about is not fantasy. I’ve taken great pains in the first two of my books to establish and lay out a very firm historical foun- dation. As the saga that I am writing about progresses, and we reach the point at which the Roman Legions left Briton, then the historical references that are available to us dwindle accordingly - very rapidly - to the point by which at the year 450 AD we have no written records. From that point what I am writing could be termed fantasy in so far as I am creating it... Fantasy involves by definition magic, supernatural magic. It involves extra-human powers, super-human powers, none of which I deal in. I’ve always believed, because of one particular teacher, that every legend is an accretion of myth that has built up over the centuries around a kernel of hard, cold truth. So I went looking for that truth, and I found it in 1978 when I suddenly realized, over the course of a conversation, that I knew how that sword [Excalibur] got into the stone, and how that kid [Arthur] was able to pull it out without magic. Then I started writing. And if anyone had told me that it was going to take 16 years, and still be involved in it, I would have laughed at them. I never set out to be a novelist. I wrote all four books before I set out to get them published. It was just something in me, something that I wanted to do. T: Do you find sometimes that certain aspects of other writ- ers colour your story? Do you find yourself saying “No, I can’t write that, because it’s from someone else’s book?” J: No, I honestly don’t think that has ever occurred to me, because I don’t think my story has been told before. What I have done, to the best of my knowledge, no one has ever done. I’ve created a four generation family tree for that man that we is the last flicker of the independent Roman and Romano-British spirit. H T: You deliberately leave the question of Uther Pendragon’s guilt or innocence in the rape of Cassandra [Merlyn’s lover] open ended. Why? And is this going to be a reoccurring theme in the next book? J: [left it open ended for the reader to draw his own conclu- sion because Merlyn had to draw his own conclusion. That’s the way life is. Very few things in this life are cut and dried. Black and White. I wanted my readers to see that there is a very strong case to be made for Uther having committed the rape and murder. I wanted my readers to see that there is an equally strong case to be made in favor of his total innocence. I know what the truth was, but I’m the creator. In book four _, Merlyn is still alive, Uther is dead. Merlyn is bringing up * Uther’s son, Arthur, and will be haunted, as he has already © said in book three, by the possibility that Uther could have done these things. He never is able to prove it, and so he has to live with the imperfections of the man he loved as Uther...(the discussion turns to labels, and his editor calling the character Uther a misogynist). s I cannot live with any suggestion that I tailor my fifth — century protagonists to make them conform to the prevalent wisdom of the latter half of the twentieth century which is “All men should treat women as equals.” That’s bullshit. They haven’t for four thousand years. They certainly weren’t doing it 1500 years ago, so why should I then write my book to “ reflect that? | Revisionism is a danger that has to be avoided. That’s why I left Uther’s guilt or innocence hanging in the balance. I don’t want to attach labels. Draw your own conclusions, and try and do it clearly. You'll see that there are fuzzy edges everywhere. f ; T: Describe for me a little bit of the writing process, how you write. Does the story surprise you, or do you basically know where you are going? J: The writing process. Hmm. Okay, I’m going to preface this by saying that everything I say has to be viewed from the perspective of a man in the middle of writing a major story. The writing process [is] a very humbling experience, because