A Talk with Hilma Wolitzer
First off, why more than a decade between novels?
I could say that life got in the way, but that would only be partly true and also kind of whiny. Ive written prolifically at other times when I was just as busy or stressed; most writers do. Whenever people asked why I wasnt writing, Id say that I was blocked, which always sounded more like a plumbing problem to me than a creative one. Maybe I just had nothing to say, or maybe I actually was working all that time, on some subterranean level, because when I finally started writing The Doctors Daughter, it came pretty quickly. The whole process is still pretty much of a mystery, though; I just feel very lucky when it happens.
What drew you to tell this particular story?
My novels are always character-driven, so as usual, the main character began living in my head and telling me her personal story. But I also felt compelled, at this later stage in my own life, to write about women (and men, too) coming into middle age wondering if theyve made the right choices, in love and in work, and if theres still enough time to make new ones. Its such a crucial juncture, and you seem to arrive there so suddenly. I mean, one day youre a young, vital, sexy, and optimistic person, and the next day a copy of Modern Maturity and those ads for long-term care insurance arrive in the mail. As one of the characters in The Doctors Daughter says, about her friends so-called midlife crisis, Why not? This is the crossroads, kiddo, when youre looking back at all the mistakes you made, and ahead, well, ahead to old age and death.
Your protagonist Alice Brill is the daughter of a doctor and is herself a book doctor. What is it about the word doctor that defines Alices life?
The opening of the Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm is at the heart of Alices story, because she feels so guilty about something shes done, a violation of a promise she made as a child. And her father was a famous surgeon, so the familys life revolved around him. Other doctors, especially therapists (both good and bad), play an important part in Alices odyssey. Because of that exposure to the medical world, she and her best friend, another doctors daughter, consider themselves informed hypochondriacs. Alice doesnt become a physician, or marry one, as her father had hoped. But as a book doctor (or freelance editor), shes in another helping profession, even though she sometimes feels as if shes practicing without a license.
Alice faces obstacles that will resonate with many baby boomers as they start to enter the latter half of their livesthe loss of ones parents, a marriage on auto-pilot, grown children who have yet to become adults, etc. Yet, the story is specific to Alice down to the tiniest details. How does the telling of one story illuminate themes that speak to all of us?
I think the shock of recognitiona sense of emotional truthis what makes any novel work. The ones I love to read have unique characters whose concerns are distinctly their own, yet are universal at the same time, so that I might be moved to think: Why, I feel that way, too. Its similar to the empathy that sparks deep friendships and love affairs in the real world. The reader/writer relationship requires access to the characters inner lives as well as to their actions.
The Boston Globe once said of your work, Wolitzer makes art of ordinary life. Is that your goal when you sit down to write? Or do you simply try to tell a story?
I have no other goal than to tell a good story, one that I might like to read myself. The thing is that ordinary life often seems extraordinary to me. As the British writer Henry Green once said, If it happens, it matters.
Is The Doctors Daughter autobiographical?
No, Alices story is a total invention. I wasnt a doctors daughter, and I wasnt a petted only child growing up in suburban privilege. I was the middle one of three daughters sharing a bedroom in a working-class household in Brooklyn. And The Doctors Daughter doesnt reflect on my husband and children, who, like most writers families, are often the objects of curious scrutiny. But some of the observations in the book do come from my own life. I live on the upper East Side of Manhattan now, and both of my parents became senile in old age, so the descriptions of Alices neighborhood and of the nursing home where her father ends up are first-hand. The writing workshop scenes are loosely based on my teaching experience, and I guess my own sensibility and world view pervade the whole novel. Didnt I just say that it wasnt autobiographical?
The institution of marriage and all that entailspassion, partnership, supportgets tested in The Doctors Daughter. What is it about Alice and Everetts marriage that keep us emotionally invested in their lives and their future together?
I hope that readers will care about Alice and Ev because they identify with them and like them, and because their precarious marriage seems real, even familiar. The writer has to feel that way, too, though; you cant expect anyone else to care about your characters if you dont. But a happy or unhappy ending cant just be tacked on by an omniscient writer. It has to evolve naturally from the story, to be earned by what precedes it. So I didnt really know the fate of Alice and Evs marriage until I wrote the book. You could say that I keep writing for the same reason I keep readingto find out what happens.
Your daughter, Meg Wolitzer, is a successful novelist. How does it feel to have another writer in the family?
It feels very good. But there are actually two other writers in the family. Megs husband, Richard Panek, is a journalist, so were a kind of cottage industry. I love all of my kids, but the writing adds another dimension to my relationship with Meg, whos smart and funny and generous. We talk about work a lot and show each other pages, for criticism and support. E-mail and the telephone have replaced the umbilical cord.
Whats next for Hilma Wolitzer?
Definitely not another long stretch between novels; I just cant afford to indulge myself that way anymore. In fact, Ive already started writing the next book. There are three main characters this timethree women from different social classeswhose lives and stories collide, so my head is pretty crowded. This is solitary work, but its never really lonely.