The Gone Away World is the debut novel from writer Nick Harkaway and is a blend of science-fiction, love story and war epic.The Jorgmund Pipe is the backbone of the world, and it's on fire. Gonzo Lubitsch, professional hero and troubleshooter, is hired to put it out - but there's more to the fire, and the Pipe itself, than meets the eye. The job will take Gonzo and his best friend, our narrator, back to their own beginnings and into the dark heart of the Jorgmund Company itself. From rural childhood in Cricklewood Cove to military service in a bewildering foreign war; from Jarndice University to the sawdust of the Nameless Bar; their story is the story of the Gone-Away World. I caught up with Nick to discuss the ideas behind his new novel and what the future lies in store for him.
The Gone Away World is your debut novel. Can you tell me a bit about the story?
It’s an adventure, a big, rolling piece of fun. It has a serious side, of course, but I wanted it to be something you read smiling rather than scratching your head. So it’s about two friends with a huge task in front of them: save the world from a catastrophe. Except, perhaps inevitably, they’re being lied to. The job in hand isn’t what it seems to be.
To understand what happens, we go back to their first meeting in childhood and we take in the history of the world from that time to the beginning of this undertaking. It’s the history of our world, really, up to the point where I do something completely wild and off we go into the unknown. And it’s a love story, a buddy story, a wild ride. I hope it’s also funny!
So when we’ve seen all that, and we understand the world, we go roaring off into the latest adventure and the crises and villains who are in the heart of that and along the way, we catch up with some old friends and confront an old enemy or two.
The history of the entire world for three decades after a global apocalypse not really as small subject matter for your debut novel! Where did the plot come from?
Yes, I know, I read the book now and I think : 'I must have been insane to start something like this.' But it wasn’t like that I had this small idea, two guys in a truck with a problem, and it all grew from there, like layer upon layer of polish on an antique table.
As to where it came from I’m not sure. I wish you could just go to the Idea Shop or the Notion Library and grab a few, mix them up and go. Instead they sort of sneak up on you, and half the time they’re unclear and cloudy and the other half they’re strident and over-confident you have to refine them, weave them together. And then you end up with something interesting. At least, I hope you do.
Part science-fiction, part war story, part love story, part mystery-thriller as well as comedy why did you incorporate all of these genres in one novel?
I didn’t! I just told the story I had. I wasn’t thinking about genre or anything else. I wrote, and then I looked at it, and I thought: 'Blimey, what shelf are they going to put that on?'
But as to why all those things are in there because that’s what the world is. It’s never universally funny or sad. It’s horrible, wonderful, dark, cosy, desperate, generous.
And how does the writing process work for you?
It varies. My wife goes to work early, so I tend to get up with her and use her day as the template for my own. Some days you get lots and lots done, some days you don’t and you feel as if you’re shirking.
The hardest part for me isn’t the writing itself, it’s that refining process I mentioned earlier, where you’re reaching for the story and you haven’t quite got it yet. That’s horrible, because you can spend days, weeks, months even, just looking at one stupid bit, and then realise that it’s fine and the problem is the previous bit.
You studied philosophy , sociology and politics at Cambridge. Why did you make the move into writing?
Well, it wasn’t a move, exactly. The SPS degree that I did prepares you for anything or nothing! It’s not a vocational degree. So I left university and went onto the set of Hackers as a production runner (that’s a polite way of saying that literally everyone on the movie was more important than I was.) I ended up writing for film, which I think a lot of people in the industry try, and in the end I wasn’t able to make that work. It was driving me nuts. So I wrote this book.
You touch on issues of war, commercialism and the nature of humanity. Are these issues that interest you or, given in the world in which we live, maybe issues that need to be tackled, despite being set in the future?
Well, a couple of quibbles: I suppose the book does take place in the future, but not the ray-guns-and-silver-suits future. It’s more like tomorrow if today was a really, really bad day. And I think that while I poke fun at the corporate world, my serious criticisms of big systems could equally apply to government bureaucracy.
Having said that, yes, you’re absolutely right! These are things we need to think about and in so far as there’s a moral point to the book (and I’m a big fan of the old saying about that: 'if you want to send a message, use the postal service') it’s that we have to think all the time.
There’s never a moment when you aren’t being offered a choice about how the world should be. We need to be more alert to those choices, because the world we have is very murky and alarming.
How do you research for a novel like this, particularly for the character of Gonzo Lubitsch, who has been in the military? Did you look into the military for the development of his character?
Well, mostly what I did was imagine myself into bizarre situations and think: what would I do? How would I feel? But I also read a couple of amazing books about modern war, and the impression I came away with was that it was both something which completely dehumanises people and something in which people discover their own humanity.
There’s a moment in 'Generation Kill' where a marine says that when he came to Iraq he wanted to kill the enemy, but now he’s met this Iraqi child and he realises that the Iraqis are just people. He doesn’t want to kill this kid’s father. It’s great.
But really, it’s not the kind of book you do research for, because most of it is imagined. I did some for the military stuff because, while I knew I couldn’t possibly get it right I’ve never been under fire, after all I didn’t want to be laughable, either.
Why did you tell the story through the eyes of Gonzo's sidekick?
Because he was my guy. That was the concept, from the beginning. Because everyone has been in that position, of being the other person. Everyone has a friend who is more attractive, or cooler, or more intelligent, and we’ve all thought at some time or other ‘oh, hell, no one cares about me because I’m with this human torch here’. The other person in the room is much more interesting than the one for whom everything is easy.
While you were writing the novel you had no agent, publisher or day job, and it took a year to write. That's a long time to invest into something that may not work out! Did you think about that at all or did you just want to write the book?
No. I just did it. If this didn’t work, I was going to have to find a completely new direction at the age of thirty four: the thing I’d been working on for ten years, being a writer, was in the balance. So, you know, I had enough pressure to be going on with!
Of course you are the son of John le Carré how difficult is that?
It’s just different. There are upsides and downsides, and they are as you might expect mirrors of one another. I honestly did not expect (probably this was me in denial) to have quite so much attention on that basis. I asked my publishers to avoid making an issue of it, and they all agreed.
I got an agent before the connection got out, which was great. And then whoosh. Every interview, every article has to make the point. It’s odd. Frustrating, sometimes. And of course there are people saying 'he only got published because of his dad' and all I can say is read the book and see. Because I think it answers that allegation pretty robustly.
The book has been met well and is being labelled by some critics as a modern classic. How do you feel about that?
Delighted. Stunned. Alarmed. I’ve got to write another one now, and there’s nothing more scary than the idea I might not be up to it. Fortunately, I’ve also had some grouchy reviews, which helps a lot. Every time I see one of those I think 'Ah ha! This one’s for you!'.
What did you feel the need to change you name and why Harkaway?
Well, partly because Bernard and Patricia Cornwell have that shelf sewn up. They so entirely own the name. I just thought I’d get lost.
And I am a private person. I’m not shy, exactly, but I wanted a barrier between me and the book. The book’s the important thing. I love talking to people about it, but at the same time I want some space to be just myself, with my wife, and so on.
It’s a silly thing to have to consider before you’ve even released a book, when it may turn out that no one is remotely interested, but you don’t get the chance to say afterwards could you all please imagine I hadn’t used my own name so that I can get a restaurant table without anyone knowing I wrote that book.
And Harkaway because of how it sounds: like adventure, ships at anchor on foreign seas.
You have also worked as a screenwriter - any plans to return?
No. Hell, no. Being a film writer is awful. It’s like being the sous-chef in a kitchen run by Mussolini and Mao (great name for a restaurant I’d put that in the next book but I’d never be able to make it work shame!)
I’d consider it for a few things if someone said do us an outline for the next Star Wars movie I don’t think I’d be able to resist that. I mean, who could? But no one’s going to! I’m not that guy, and to be honest I’m quite pleased. I like the new me.
Finally what is next for you?
My second book. Not a sequel, not a prequel, just going right on into the beyond. It’s less crazy, it’s more crazy. Of course.
Thanks for your time.
It’s a pleasure. Genuinely. And I’m going to see if I can work in Mussolini & Mao. It sounds so good
Nick's debut novel The Gone Away World is out now.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw