Mfa Programs

"Memory,death,time,love and pain.What else can there be? ".Interview with Nic Pizzolatto

Nic Pizzolatto is certainly not gone unnoticed in these parts.On Pegasus Descending fact you can read the reviews so much of "Wanted" ,his story in the collection nights without sleep (ed. Rizzoli),how much of Galveston ,its amazing debut novel published by Mondadori.I do not deny that Pizzolatto is perhaps the most young American writer who was able to impress positively due to its ability in writing the dialogues and the incredible ability to brush with the words of the environments and the psychology of the characters in his stories.It is therefore with curiosity and pride that I have the privilege to publish on Pegasus Descending its intense and structured interview in which Pizzolatto is the most diverse topics,from literature to the recent disaster caused by BP in the Gulf of Mexico.

What were your beginnings in the world of writing?
As a child I was a great visual artist and I used to write and draw my own comics.Looking at where I come from you never thought that I would become a writer.It was like he wanted to be in a movie or something like that,it just was not a viable option and also there was no place to turn to for advice.I ended up going to college with a scholarship in art at Louisiana State University,and there to make literature,understanding how my art has always been akin to fiction and that what I really wanted to do was tell stories to people.After college I moved to Austin,Texas,where I worked in a restaurant and then do some odd jobs and,basically,I have not written anything for three years. In 2001 I enrolled in the MFA program at the University of Arkansas to study writing,I started writing short stories and the first two that I have proposed have been sold to a major magazine,The Atlantic.What has proved,to date,being the highest point of my success for many years.It might still be,I suppose.

Your first published work in Italy was the story "Wanted." Where did you get the inspiration for this story?
Could not tell you anything about "inspiration",neither is it nor where it comes from,but,like Galveston,the story is set in a landscape that is familiar to me,a landscape that,whatever the reason,stimulates my imagination.And families are important in my work,I think.Typically ugly,bad or broken,which force players to realize themselves,to break their links with the same families,risking exile or complete isolation in order to achieve the lives they want.All,more or less,comes from interests such as these,that then the events and sensitivity allow characters to develop.

The South is one of the protagonists of this story.
I do not necessarily call it a "protagonist",but I understand what you mean.Henry James said that the landscape is a character and that,to me,is absolutely true.Some places have haunted me all my life and so I learned to torment them in turn.I can not really separate the characters from the landscape and this is something that interests me greatly,as a human being.