Damon Galgut
Damon Galgut
Damon Galgutis an award-winning South African playwright and novelist...
NationalitySouth African
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth12 November 1963
abstract apartheid changed distant fascinated generation growing people whom
I'm fascinated by how much has changed from one generation to another. There are young people growing up now for whom apartheid is just a distant memory and the idea of military service is an abstract notion.
behind goes passage wanting
I've been wanting to write a book about what goes into creating a novel, and the story behind 'A Passage to India' is especially interesting.
change radical stories subject trauma
Any radical change or trauma always makes for interesting subject matter, but then all stories deal, to some extent, with the disjuncture between past and present.
deeper goes mere perceive politics psyche south writers younger
Rian Malan was one of the first younger writers to perceive and write about a darkness in the South African psyche that goes deeper than mere politics. To some extent, that's my territory, too.
becomes highly issues quite south
South Africa is highly politicised; even small issues become politicised, and it becomes quite bitter.
definitely incapable
I'm constitutionally incapable of working on planes or trains, and airports are definitely out.
great though visited
India I have visited a great many times, though there is a lot about it I will never understand.
almost future gone involves people south white
Almost overnight, white people have gone from being very powerful to potentially irrelevant. Their future in South Africa is not what many had envisaged, so it involves a lot of reinvention.
bound buy fountain notebooks work
I work by hand, with a fountain pen, in bound notebooks I buy in India.
assumption begin certain hard rule work written
I try to get going early, on the assumption that the way you begin your day is the way you continue. But certain books only want to be written at night, so there's no hard rule where work is concerned.
centre ended hoping interest work
I first went to India because of my interest in yoga, hoping to go to the Iyengar Centre in Pune for a while. That didn't work out, but I ended up on a beach in Goa, writing.
baths cape forest sunday turkish walks
I go for long walks in Newlands Forest in Cape Town, and I go to the Turkish baths on Sunday mornings.
events expected explain logical mysterious novels reach remain ultimately
It's expected of novels that they should explain the world and create the illusion that things are ultimately logical and coherent. But that's not what I see around me. Often, events remain mysterious and unresolved, and our emotions reach no catharsis.
apartheid gift looking writers
While apartheid was in operation, the set-up was a gift for writers if you were looking for a big theme.