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Michael Connelly, Harry, the Tunnel of Love and Chapter 13 |
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| 11/12/2010 |
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Raymond Chandler Award winner Michael Connelly met with readers and audiences at Courmayeur. In a conversation with Carlo Lucarelli, the writer talked about his characters, Los Angeles and his passion for Chandler.
Harry Bosch
It’s as if Harry Bosch were born in a tunnel of love. We come across him in a dark period of his life as he’s walking towards his life. The fact that he reaches the light doesn’t mean the series is over, however, because there are other things that he’ll have to face and learn.
Time flows
I’ve never thought about abandoning Harry. I want to see him grow, get older and if I were to ever stop writing about him I’d like to end his story with a simple homecoming.
Similarities
In the beginning I was distant from Harry. We have very different personalities. But over time and in developing his character he’s become closer to me, to what I think, to my opinions, for example about Los Angeles. Harry is my age and has a daughter, as I do, and in a way we share the same problems.
Choices
I choose my characters instinctively. I immediately know if the book I’m about to write will feature Harry, Mickey Haller, Jack McEvoy or Terry McCaleb. For example, I thought that Mickey would the protagonist of just one story, but I liked him so I decided to continue and have him meet Harry. It was interesting, because they’re very different, perhaps opposites of one another, and that way I could enhance Harry’s character from Mickey’s point of view.
Los Angeles, the city of destiny
I grew up in Florida. I tried to write two books, which no one ever read, they were a kind of practice. Then I moved to Los Angeles and shortly thereafter wrote my first novel, with Harry Bosch as the main character. Los Angeles is a city of destiny, a destination for people from other places who are searching for something to give meaning to their lives. But when they arrive they’ll never find anything. It’s a real city that’s wonderful for the imagination.
Losing oneself
Los Angeles is an easy city in which to lose yourself. There are so many different geographical areas, I use different ones in order to have a different story. Now that I no longer live in Los Angeles, whenever I sit down to write a new story, I identify a place in the city, I study in it detail and make it the stage for the characters’ actions.
Raymond Chandler and Chapter 13
There are things about Raymond Chandler that belong to the past, for example his views of women. But others are extremely topical and are surprisingly lasting. Each year, I re-read chapter 13 of The Little Sister, once, for inspiration, in particular it helps me understand how to describe Los Angeles even though 60 years have passed since it was written. And then there’s Marlowe. His cynicism mixed with hope – those feelings are part of each and every one of us.
James Ellroy
I don’t spend a lot of time with writers. Now that I no longer live in Los Angeles whenever I return it’s only for work, so I don’t have much free time. I know James Ellroy very well, and some of Harry Bosch’s biographical elements have been lifted straight from Ellroy’s life. Both lost their mothers in bloody ways. And they both had to deal with the consequences of a profound trauma.
United States
The United States is a place like many others, with positive and negative aspects. One thing I don’t tolerate is the sense of isolation from and indifference towards the rest of the world. Harry is someone who wants to know and understand what’s happening beyond national borders. But in general our country tends to think that the rest of the world doesn’t exist.
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