10E 0.5: Matt Bell and Wolf Parts

by bl pawelek

(an FMC original)

In ten words (no more, no less), describe Wolf Parts.

MB: Wolf Parts is a fragmentary retelling of Red Riding Hood.

Five Questions Here

1. In your research, what was the coolest thing you learned about Red?

MB: I didn’t do an incredible amount of research. Mostly, I read about a dozen old versions of the fairy tale, enough to end up with a pile of common elements (girl, wolf, grandmother, knife, woodsman, woods, and the stones), and then I sat down to write as many permutations of those elements as possible-I wrote sixty, and there are forty in the book. I hadn’t read many of the oldest versions of the fairy tale at that point-I think that, like most people, I thought of Red Riding hood as one fairy tale, not a collection of variations-and I was interested in seeing the way they shifted over time. The earliest tales lack the clear morality of the later French and German version-they’re not so much immoral as amoral-and it was that moral blankness that I wanted to emulate most, as it’s a quality I really admire in fiction, and strive for generally.

2. What is the wolf part you admire the most?

MB: I spent most of the time in this book writing about the jaws, or maybe the fur. But I wonder if it’s not a wolf’s eyes that we remember, shining in the darkness, or else staring at us from across a field or forest. A wolf is like a dog, but its eyes are not-except for those closest breeds-and I think it’s that apartness that freaks us out when we see one.

3. In another version, do Red and the Grandmother live happily ever after?

MB: Of course there’s a version where Red and the Grandmother live happily ever after, but no one believes it. Even that Red, that Grandmother, even they doubt it. They doubt it more than anyone else.

4. Tell me about the world inside the Wolf’s stomach.

MB: In Wolf Parts, the world inside the wolf is sometimes just a stomach, full of all the bile and blood and meat a wolf’s stomach should be. Other times it is full of a certain number of girls, a particular amount of grandmothers. Sometimes those girls and grandmothers are dead or dying, and sometimes they are reaching into their baskets for knives and axes, hammers and hacksaws.

Sometimes the world inside a wolf contains a world of its own, and in that wolf there is another wolf, and in that world yet another.

5. What is the most dangerous kind of wolf?

MB: The one that doesn’t know he’s a wolf.

Five Questions There

6. Have you ever lost your way in a forest?

MB: Sure, but often in the company of others, which is not the same thing: I go backpacking with my father and my brothers, and we’ve lost a number of trails over the years, sometimes temporarily and sometimes for miles. It’d probably be terrifying in the right conditions, but with good company and sunshine and a pack too full of supplies, it’s also kind of exhilarating: This is a place I am not supposed to be, and I am there, and nothing bad is going to happen because of it.

7. Describe who the “I” is in this story.

MB: The “I” is either the narrator of that particular version, or else of all of them, either the original author or else a reteller. There’s at least two sections with direct narratorial intrusions of this type, and a number of subtler ones. And I would say that it’s not necessary that the narrator be the same from section to section, but he or she could be.

8. How did the cover of your book come to life?

MB: Peter Cole at Keyhole took the photo, and did the design. I was there to offer hopefully helpful suggestions and pester him, but it was my wife who added the final touch: The gradient on the cover used to go top to bottom, and she suggested reversing its direction, so the red was on the bottom instead. And, as always, she was right.

9. Did you know that Catherine Hardwicke is directing a Red Riding Hood movie for next year? Thoughts?

MB: I don’t really know who that is-I had to look it up-but my guess is that anyone approaching Red Riding Hood from the angle of religion-as she seems to have done projects in the past-is probably going to miss the point. Don’t expect anything lasting to come of it.

10. In ten words (no more, no less), describe your next project.

MB: Next year, a book about the trials of post-apocalyptic parenting.