David Mitchell: Critical Essays (1)

Yesterday was a significant day in the history of Gylphi. The very first book in the new Contemporary Writers: Critical Essays book series (ed. Sarah Dillon) was published.

The book is entitled David Mitchell: Critical Essays and examines for the majority the writer's first novels: number9dream, Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas. There are notable extensions to this, especially in the introduction, where Sarah Dillon takes us to the latest published novels and beyond to discuss books currently being written by the author.

This is a project that began life over two and a half years ago with an email from Sarah, who had been talking to our SF Storyworld's series editor, Paul March-Russell. In the beginning the discussion had been about approaching David Mitchell from the position of science fiction (SF), but the publication of Black Swan Green made clear that Mitchell could not be considered from the perspective of SF alone.

On the first day of the conference, from which this book arose, torrential rain hit Scotland, the rail lines from the southern border into St Andrews were flooded, and this threw travel plans into chaos.

The event took place at the University of St Andrews regardless. Among the delegates who braved the weather to attend was David Mitchell, making this a unique event, and Mitchell's reflections on the conference can be read in the foreword to the book, which you can order online here.

This week there will be more posts walking through the book and its topics, please keep an eye out for them.

David Mitchell Conference, University of St Andrews

The David Mitchell Conference 2009 was remarkable in a number of respects. First it was a conference focused on a living contemporary author who has published only four novels. Second, not only did the author attend the conference to read from his forthcoming novel but he also sat through all of the papers presented and dined with the delegates. Those attending the conference therefore had privileged access to their subject of research and investigation. Questions were directed at him during the delivery of papers, in the coffee breaks, in the pub and at dinner. Would it have worked with any author? I very much doubt this. David Mitchell has a temperament that is calm, a fondness for listening to others and an attitude that if someone asks a question then it is in turn worth answering properly.

The papers, a selection of which will be collected together in a forthcoming book (Gylphi 2010), approached the layered realities of Mitchell's fiction, highlighting his influences and the geography of his fiction.

Over the course of the conference, it became clear that Mitchell is a writer who cares deeply about the reader and their experience.

Recently on Twitter, questions were invited from @gylphi followers, and @Oblomovs asked 'How does the cosmopolitan lifestyle impact on the integrity of the voice? Regional v. international.'

The opportunity did not arise to ask this question in the way it was originally framed, however the question was kept in mind while I attend the conference and listened to David speak. My conclusions are thus: while David has lived around the globe, cosmopolitan is not a word I would readily apply to him in all of its senses. He is very happy living in the south of Ireland with his wife and children, near to a few close friends. He does not seek out celebrity, fame or fortune, he simply writes novels that happen to be very good. He sees his work as a novelist pure and simple. He constructs characters through listening, reading, researching and above all caring about people. Thinking about how they feel in any given situation.

The conference affirmed that David Mitchell is a writer worth reading not only on a level of entertainment but also literary research.