Focus Spring 1996.tif 74 Foetts on LiCeralllr Creating the Statue out of the Mass of Clay AN INTERVIEW WITH URSULA HEGI Laura Jackson (University o/tflashington) spoke with the Gennan-bom novelist UTSlI[a Hegi on Febmary 2, 1995, when Hegi was on the Uni­ versity of Washington campllS to give a talk titled "Breakirlg the Silence: On Being German in America. "In chis interview she speaks about how she sees the writing process and about her (JlTrent project, a ~Iotlfictjon work on the experience 0/ being German in America. She refers in Ihis interview to two 0/ her most recent works, Floating in my Mother's Palm (1991) and Stones from the River (1994), both of which are set in Germany. Stones from (he River brought Hegi a nomination for the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award for Ficcion. In this book she traces German life/rom 1915 to 1951from the perspective of Tmdi Montag, a dwarf wbo mns a pay library in the fic£ionallown of Burgdorf Stones from the River was published in hardback by Poseidon and will appear in paperback with Scribner's. It is due 10 be published in German transla ­ tion in the near fUlure. Negi was born in Ge17Tlany and lived the)·e un!il she was eighteetl. She is an A ssociate Professor at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington, where she teaches creative writing. Laura Jackson: Let's Stan by talking abou t writing. In your talk to­ day you mentioned that writing is very much a producti ve process . Urs ula Hegi: It is very much a process. When I w rite, I never set out to make a point. I believe that there is a place for writing about ideas, and that is in non-fiction. In fiction we need to tell the stories of certain characters and we need to get to know the characters really well, so [hat we can discover t heir stories. I stay with a piece o f wri t­ ing umil I understand what it is about, doing fifty to a hundred revi­ sions, working with the material and lifting the meaning to the sur­ face. r didn't set out to write about the silence of the postwar years in FOCIIS 011 Literarur Vol. 3, No. 1 (1996) 76 FOClfS on Lireralur Fioaring in my Mother's Palm, but looking at the book now, I think that-among other things-is definitely a very strong theme. But if I had set Ollt to write about the silence of the postwar years, rhat would be propaganda-having the idea come first. As writers, we have OUf beilefS and we have the essence of who we are. That emerges in our fiction if we go very deeply, but we can't have the ficlion be a mouth­ piece for our ideas. If r really want to make a point-if I wam [0 write about an idea, [do that in nonfiction and I come straight forward and say it. LJ: But certain ideas come out in the ficlion, so in effect doesn't the fiction work as a mouthpiece for the ideas? UH: No, not a mouthpiece . A mouthpiece is more message-oriented. I think with strong fiction-ideally-as a reader you're left with a message. As a writer you're left knowing something that you didn't know or understand before. LJ: You mentioned silence, and r wonder if we can talk about silence for a moment. Writing itself is but because I was there on the other side of these military and policemen who stood for something, 1 obviously, in their eyes, was in the wrong. If we look at a kids' playground at a school, it happens, all the time. h has happened to all of us, this playground situation, and I think it is just played out in a larger arena as we gel older. LJ: There are things happening in contemporary politics in rhe United Stales that have the effect of al ienating certain groups. There is a growing need for involvement in politics. If I think of Scones from the River for a moment, you describe a population who reacted slowly at first when the National Socialists came to power. As Klaus Malter says, "If only [ had said something sooner." Do YOli see raday as a time when we need to start saying something? 00: It's important to say something, It's essenriailO make our posi­ tions known, but not to silence another group of voices wi th whom we disagree. But I came to that conclusion relative ly late, so I can kind of understand it when people don't. L]: You mentioned in your talk today a discomfort wilh national­ ism. Stones/rom the River seems to represent a process of working through your national identity as a German. Can one have a national identity and have it not be a negative thing? UH: I have see n very positive national identity in a lot of people, in my friend who comes from Holland, for example. She very much identifies with her community of origin and that is why she is com­ fortable being D Ulch. Another fr iend from France is more critical of France than my Dutch fr iend is of Holland, bUl she also very much identifies with her community of origin and is much closer to France than I am to Germany. She teaches French and goes back very often. She l ives very much both the American and the French cultures. So I think it has a lot to do with identification with one's country o f ongln. L]: You were born after World War IT and yet you feel the events of the war as a very heavy burden. Is there ever a time when Germans An Interview widl Ursula Hegl 83 can say they have the "Gnade der spat en Gebun," and that they can di stance themselves from Germany's role in the war? UH: First of ail, I think it's a terrible thing lO say, it's a whitew.lsh. And CO the rest of your questi on: I don't" know. [ think it is impor­ tant never to forge t whlt happened. One way to not do that is to talk and to write. What came out last week in terms of newspaper and television coverage of the liberation of Auschwitz. is very imponant. Ir is painful for many of us, Americans and Germans, lO look at the documentaries, but I think we need lO do t1ut . L]: And remember. VH: And remember.