×

SmokeLong Quarterly

Share This f l Translate this page

Smoking With Glen Pourciau

Interview by Beth Thomas (Read the Story) December 21, 2009

Glen Pourciau

mask of smoke by Julian Schwarze

You use an unusual format. Why the one unbroken paragraph?

The one-paragraph format serves to focus the reader on the narrator’s voice or consciousness. He is in a state of heightened emotion, and he sees and experiences the situation in that context. There isn’t much air around him, so to speak. Writing the story in one paragraph is one way of getting the reader to experience events as he does.

We open upon a scene of sadness and pain, a moment of near comfort, then things going from bad to worse. Do you find this path often occurs in real life?

Things often get worse if the people involved cause them to get worse. The husband in the story doesn’t want to make the situation worse, yet his reactions push him to a point where he could make things much worse. But his wife tells him a story, and he pulls himself back.

The husband is grasping for control of something, anything. Will he find it?

In my opinion, a considerable part of the husband’s anxiety is related to fear about controlling himself. He faces decisions, and he is not in a good frame of mind to make them. In a word, he is afraid of himself. He does control himself in the end, with his wife’s help. Couplehood is fundamental to this story.

What does the man with the fork represent?

A fork can be a utensil used for a civilized purpose or a weapon, depending on the intent of the person holding it. Beyond that, I don’t want to put my interpretation between the reader and the story. Like the narrator, the reader is left to consider why the man is holding his fork upright.

What’s next for you? What can we expect to see from you in the near future?

I’m going to write more stories. I have stories coming out very soon at failbetter, New England Review, and TriQuarterly.

About the Author

Glen Pourciau’s first collection of stories won the Iowa Short Fiction Award. His second story collection is forthcoming from Four Way Books. He’s had stories published by AGNI Online, Antioch Review, Epoch, New England Review, Paris Review, and other magazines.

About the Interviewer

Beth Thomas is originally from New Mexico but currently lives in California due to military relocation. She works as a technical writer in the aerospace/defense industry—don’t ask what she writes about ’cause she can’t really tell you. She has a BA and an MA in writerly things from New Mexico universities. Her work has recently appeared in Pindeldyboz Online, SmokeLong Quarterly, Juked, Word Riot, and other places.

About the Artist

Julian Schwarze, born on May 12, 1989 in Frankfurt / Main, studied product design at the University of Art and Design Offenbach, graduated in 2015 and is currently a research associate and PhD student in project-mo.de with a focus on mobility design. His doctoral thesis deals with system transitions in mobility spaces and their user-centered design. During his studies he completed internships in design offices in the Netherlands and Hamburg. The main focus was on  brand- and user-centered design of industrial products, everyday products and packaging.

This interview appeared in Issue Twenty-Seven of SmokeLong Quarterly.
SmokeLong Quarterly Issue Twenty-Seven
ornament

Support SmokeLong Quarterly

Your donation helps writers and artists get paid for their work. If you’re enjoying what you read here, please consider donating to SmokeLong Quarterly today.

SmokeLong Fitness--The Community Workshop

Book Now!

Included in the price of SmokeLong Fitness:

The Community Workshop in small groups
One live Zoom webinar each month with killer workshop leaders (recorded for participants unable to attend).
One open-mic party each month (or other live Zoom events)
Discounts on intensive workshops
Discounts on senior editor feedback
Surprises (good ones)