LiveWorld Transcripts

Time Warner Bookmark presents

Author James Wilcox
Discusses his latest novel

September 30, 1999

Author James Wilcox chats about his latest novel, “Plain and Normal,” and his previous work, including “Polite Sex” and “Sort of Rich.”

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TimeWarner: Welcome to Time Warner Bookmark! Little, Brown and Company and the Talk City Network are proud to present our special guest for tonight James Wilcox author of "Plain and Normal" and "Sort of Rich." Once an inhabitant of New York City, James now lives in Mississippi and teaches at Mississippi State. His books have received numerous accolades including those of Toni Morrison and Anne Tyler, and now you can get to know the author behind these books. And now, without further ado, please welcome our guest for the evening James Wilcox ! James, welcome to Talk City!

James Wilcox: It's great to be here.

MysteryGirl: James, welcome to Talk City! Can you tell us a little bit about your new book, “Plain and Normal”?

James Wilcox: To begin with, it was probably the most difficult book to write of all my seven novels. It took around four or five years, it seems. It took many, many revisions along the way. But I'm happy with the way it turned out, finally and I feel it was worth all the effort. It's a departure in one way from my other books, but I think that, basically, it could be easily recognizable as a work by the author of ”Polite Sex,” or any of my earlier novels. I do have Tula Springs being used in this book; as in “Polite Sex,” I have two former residents of Tula Springs living up in the East. Although I haven't spent a lot of time in Yonkers, there was something about the place that interested me as a suburb so close to New York City, that I decided to go a little off center with the locale and see what I could do with Yonkers.

Denim: Your character Lloyd seems like a victim at times. What are your thoughts on him?

James Wilcox: I am concerned about characters being perceived merely as victims. But I don't think of him as solely a victim of circumstances, etc. I think in a way that's perhaps not immediately apparent, he is making his way in the world and exerting some sort of benign influence on the other characters around him, changing their lives in some way. But, I have to say, it's hard to be totally objective about any of my characters in my books. I'm often told that my characters are sometimes hard for some people to identify with. I have always wanted to write about a character who is wonderful and heroic, but it's been difficult for me to do that. Someday I may be able to do this, but for now, my characters are somehow deeply flawed in one way or another. But redeemable. (smile)

Toeknee: Can you give us a brief synopsis of the book?

James Wilcox: Mr. and Mrs. Norris are divorced when the book opens. The main thrust of the book is Mr. Norris's hopes of coming to terms with his sexuality and integrating it in a significant and productive way into the rest of his life. This is a challenge to him since he was brought up as a strict Roman Catholic. That's it briefly. But it's a fairly complicated book.

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