The Gown Student Newspaper at Queen's University Belfast

ARTS: James Ellroy talks at the Waterfront Hall

The descent of the ‘Demon Dog of American Fiction’ on the Waterfront Hall was a unique literary event. ‘An Evening with James Ellroy’, hosted by No Alibis of Botanic, saw the end of Ellroy’s tour to promote his latest novel, ‘Blood’s a Rover’. The book completes the Underworld USA trilogy, which provocatively investigates the politics of America during the presidency of J.F. Kennedy. As an author who is noted for his clipped and telegraphic style of prose, ‘Blood’s a Rover’ promises also to be a bold novel full of raw energy, as well as being Ellroy’s most personal novel since ‘The Black Dahlia’.

BY ROBYN MCCMURRAY

Arguably, Ellroy’s biography explains his position as a rising star of detective and crime fiction. After the murder of his mother when he was ten years old, Ellroy was set upon a path of crime himself, which saw a misspent youth followed by a nervous breakdown. The similarities between Ellroy and the protagonist of ‘Blood’s a Rover’ are hauntingly similar from the voyeuristic habits of the character, to his obsessive love with women and his unhealthy interest in solving his mother’s death. The contradictions in Ellroy’s confusing personal persona were evident throughout the evening. From statements such as ‘I am going to tell you everything’ to a personal criticism of his exploitation of his past, Ellroy allows the audience to see intimately into his own life before reverting to a carefully rehearsed stage character.

Often noted for his strong political views, Ellroy showed his personal fascination with the matter through his opening joke regarding Northern Ireland’s political difficulties, as well as his critique on the politics of 1960’s America, which he summed up as ‘being ruled by bad men with bad money’. Ellroy admits to holding right wing views, which he sees as the only answer to his cynical view of America both historically and to the present day. This self-confessed perfectionist judges the world by the same high standards he sets himself.

Ellroy openly shared with his Belfast audience the rewards of his hard work. Yet despite the success of film adaptations of his work, he describes his relationship with Hollywood as strictly financial. The audience were left with the distinct impression that what Ellroy seeks from his career is not fame but justice. As an audience member, I left the auditorium feeling that Ellroy’s appearance although highly informative revealed little about the man himself. His stage persona seems as carefully constructed as his fictional characters. However, I am confident that in expressing this opinion, I am verifying Ellroy’s belief in the human desire to find conspiracy everywhere. A desire which Ellroy has exploited throughout his fiction.

Therefore, James Ellroy’s use of the insignificant individual to deal with universal issues of politics and world events extends across the decades. His expression of these universal truths shows him to be, in his own words, ‘an imperfect human who has perfected a skill’.

Tags: Gown, James Ellroy, newspaper, No Alibis, qub, Queen's, queen's university, Robyn McMurray, student, The Gown, Waterfront Hall

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 8:23 pm and is filed under Arts + Ents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.