Literary / Historical Fiction
Date Published: 12-02-2025
Publisher: Scrivener Quill
She and Rhys return to American where their values collide with antithetical and alien attitudes. It is these experiences that come to challenge long-held beliefs and provide a vivid counterpoint to their recent immersion in the Modernist aesthetic and world view.
Resolved to return to France, Gemma shares a final day in America with Gerald Murphy at his ocean front Hampton estate. As this unhurried afternoon unfolds, it becomes clear that Gemma’s skepticism and doubtfulness have been replaced with a clear-sighted maturity and hardened resolve. The next morning, aboard the Ile de France, Gemma and Rhys sail for France.
Is There a Message in Your Novel That You Want Readers to Grasp?
. One reader has told me that the cover art (by Georges Barbier) reminded her of a Jane Austen novel. In reply, without a lot of inner deliberation, I said that if an Austen heroine were dropped into 1924 Modernist France, this book could have been her story. But the title and the recurring references to the circling falcon, both from Yeat’s “Second Coming”, really point to larger themes: (1) the historical structure of society has centrifugally come apart, leading to the various social and cultural experiments that we conveniently label as Modernism, (2) the devious perversion of values at the hands of amoral capitalism, (3) the (then) 50 plus year old scars of American slavery, (4) the conundrum posed by primogeniture and (5) the sometimes uncomfortable boundary between the aesthetic and the ethical. Regarding these five themes, the penetrating reader should ask how far have we come? Has post-modernism actually arrived? Running in parallel with these large-scale themes is Gemma’s own psychosexual evolution from an inexperienced girl, with more questions than answers, into a young woman, married, with a firm set of values that are later shared with Rhys, a like-minded intellectual, who becomes her lover, her husband, and the father of Gemma’s unborn child.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
If there were any feature of writing that is easy, I would offer
that it would be the first draft. It evokes the pencil or charcoal sketch lines
that sometimes are found beneath a fine oil. But the first draft must contain
the story’s arc. It’s then that the hard work starts: refining, focusing,
cutting, setting the tone, planting seeds, creating scenes that include colors,
sounds, other sensory elements, and crafting credible characters.
How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
I have written and published several short fictions and an opinion piece. Before that, I authored professional papers and book chapters. Ceremony of Innocence is my first novel.
There are two short stories, “Still Boys”, and “For the Love of Two Tarts,” of which I am especially fond.
But I will add that, when Gemma boarded the Ile
de France, she took part of my heart with her.
If You had the chance to cast your main character
from Hollywood today, who would you pick and why?
Gemma Danforth is the main character in Ceremony
of Innocence. The story takes her from girlhood into young maturity (25-30
years of age). She is an intelligent, mannered, privileged, and principled but
self-transcendent woman. She is not exactly an ingenue, which to me suggests
insincerity, but rather young woman who has chosen to remain consciously
inexperienced. While I don’t pretend cinema expertise, female leads who could convincingly
represent these attributes include Elle Fanning, Carey Mulligan, Sienna Miller
or Kate Beckinsale. I’m sure there are others.
When did you begin writing?
My writing life began decades ago with
professional papers published in scientific and medical literature. That, in
university, my minor was English literature, perhaps presaged writing. However,
it is only in recent years that I could have engaged in creative writing, once
I was freed from the demands and strictures of an all-consuming professional
life.
How long did it take you to complete your first book?
I have been a lifelong reader and, probably in tandem
with the maturation of my own values, I became swept up in the rapid emergence
of new ideas and ways of artistic expression that flowered in the years between
the end of the Belle Epoque until the onset of the Great Depression. This led
to reading the works of, and about, many of the European Modernists and some
early 20th century American writers. This process, that in
retrospect might be considered “research”, went on for perhaps five years. In
the course of this, I encountered a number of thoughtful individuals who, in
turn, peopled Ceremony’s imaginary arc. However,
for a while, I saw my writing as a short piece, but, over perhaps a year or
more, it gradually grew into a novel. And then, the story began to write itself
all the way to its epilogue.
Did you have an author who inspired you to become
a writer?
Thematically, of course, Ceremony falls into the years,
and the social strata, immortalized by Fitzgerald. But his vision of society is
very different from mine, and my prose is both less effusive and more
restrained than his.
I am a fan of Thomas McGuane and, with one
exception, not a fan of E.H.
What is your favorite part of the writing
process? The most astonishing moment in writing occurs
when, creeping in like an evening fog, the story begins to write itself. And
then there is the moment when you fall in love with one of your characters.
Describe your latest book in 4 words.
To a north star.
Can you share a little bit about your current work or what is in the future for your writing?
By good fortune, I came to own the 20th century’s great English setter. He is now gone but lives in the Field Trial Hall of Fame. For him, I am crafting an animal memoir replete with not only his accomplishments but also with many of the people whom we met along his journey. He holds a permanent place in the hearts of many, including me.
I find the writing process to be fulfilling, even
purifying, in so many ways and I hope to continue to do so for years to come.
Thank you for hosting this interview. I’ve enjoyed the
opportunity.
Stephen W. Asher
About the Author
Asher and his wife were drawn to Idaho’s arid vistas, glistening rivers, and rugged skylines. As a travelling angler, he has pursued Atlantic salmon throughout their natural range, has sought sea run brown trout in Patagonia, and steelhead in his home waters in the Pacific Northwest. He and his wife have cycled much of France, and, during quiet times at home, he enjoys music and plays cello.
Previously, he has published essays, and short pieces in the British sporting literature. He is a member of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, the Barbara Pym Society, and is a proud supporter of PEN America. He lives in Idaho with his wife, adult children, and his bird dogs.
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