Fredericton author's collection of short stories 'complex' and 'poetic'
Port Elgin book club reads Mark Anthony Jarman's Knife Party at the Hotel Europa
Mark Anthony Jarman's life and writing are a mix of experiences and locations. The Fredericton author considers himself a collector — of newspaper clippings, and bits of dialogue, characters and ideas — which all find their way into his stories.
Born and raised in Edmonton, he travelled across Canada for school and work before landing at the University of New Brunswick, where he accepted what he thought was a temporary job teaching creative writing. That was 25 years ago.
His 2015 collection of short stories, Knife Party at the Hotel Europa, is part of this year's Books and Backroads series.
Readers in six small communities in rural parts of New Brunswick took part in book clubs in CBC's partnership with New Brunswick public libraries — reading books from all genres and all with a connection to New Brunswick.
Knife Party at the Hotel Europa is set in Italy, but was inspired by a New Brunswick crime. Jarman said he read a story in Fredericton's Daily Gleaner newspaper about a fatal fight that broke out at a party. One person attacked another with a staple gun and then a knife.
Jarman remembers thinking, "There's a story there."
That fight ended up in his collection of short stories about a man who travels to Italy after his marriage falls apart and finds himself lying on beaches in the sun while refugees' bodies wash up on the shore and violence surrounds him.
"I wanted to write a slim, sunny novel set in Italy that would sell — and instead ended up with a much darker book," said Jarman, who spent time in Italy teaching creative writing in 2008.
"Italy just blew me away," he said. "I just thought I want to write about this place."
New Brunswick influence
Jarman describes himself as "a sponge" and said since moving to the province, New Brunswick locations and people have influenced his writing.
He has played in a blues band, on an "old-timers" hockey team and has worked on The Fiddlehead, a Canadian literary magazine, published at UNB, for 25 years.
"I started writing stuff about New Brunswick right away," he said, crediting his hockey teammates with sharing the real New Brunswick.
"If you're in the English department, you don't learn anything about New Brunswick," he laughed. "But you get on an old-timers hockey team out in the country and it's just a completely different world. It was great."
His book was originally meant to be a novel, but Jarman had more luck selling the chapters to magazines to be published as short stories.
"I just pulled out chunks and worked them over, and I find that's easier for me. I can't juggle a big project, but I can really focus on smaller sections," he said.
"I felt like I made every section stronger doing that."
Port Elgin book club describes writing as 'deep'
Readers at the Port Elgin Public Library said they felt like they were stepping into a completely different world when they opened Knife Party at the Hotel Europa.
Members of the book club described Jarman's writing as poetic, complex and deep.
"I felt like he was on something or lacking a lot of sleep," Monique Pereira laughed.
"The way that he writes is extremely unique. It can be very complicated, but it evokes an emotional response," said Joyce Morouney.
She advised readers to take their time and not to read it quickly.
Jarman grew up in Edmonton in the 1950s and '60s and was "always a bookworm." He said he's always written about death and dark themes.
"My writing is not everyone's cup of tea — I just kind of know that," he said.
"Sometimes it's very tender, sometimes it's very dark and crazy. Ugly things happen but there is beauty as well," Morouney said of the stories.
Max Ducsharm appreciated how Jarman's depiction of Italy was different than the romanticized versions that are common in fiction.
"It's dark and it's real," he said. "The imagery that he uses to highlight those things is really beautiful."
Make collecting a habit
Jarman said his advice to aspiring authors is to always be collecting.
"I never have a blank page because I always have notes and journals where I can find lines and details or bits of dialogue," he said.
He compares his attention to the details in the world around him to a guitar player rehearsing.
"To me, it's just like practice — you get better at it."
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