The Bryn Mawr Reading Series will host one of its own to start the spring semester as Professor Daniel Torday, co-director of the Creative Writing Program, reads from his work at the on-campus launch of his new book, The 12th Commandment, on Wednesday, Feb. 8. In advance of the event, we asked Torday a few questions about his work, advice for aspiring writers, and more.
This is your third novel in less than 10 years. Are there themes or ideas that the books all share?
It's funny—I got asked this question at my book launch in Brooklyn last week, and kind of just sat there like a guppy. After, my brilliant agent said: I know the answer to that question. You've written three books about the dangers of extremism and the outcomes of taking extreme ideas too far. So: that.
Was there something that sparked the idea for this book? And generally speaking, how does the process start for you?
I've been reading the Zohar, the central text of Jewish mysticism, for basically my whole life. When I got deep into reading Gershom Sholem, its great 20th-century scholar, I learned about this sect that followed the 17th-century false prophet, Shebbtai Tzvi. I found it so fascinating, and thought: why not put a group of them in Central Ohio, now, and see what happens?
You’re teaching Longer Fictional Forms, any advice for folks not taking the course who are interested in that sort of writing?
That's probably my favorite class to teach. I've been working a little in film, adapting my last book, Boomer1, for a feature film, and also have published essays and poems—but the novel will always be my first love. My main message in that class is: writing longer fiction mostly takes making big messes and then cleaning them up. So the approach is: type type type type type.
What’s next? Have you started work on another novel?
I'm a couple years into research on a new book that will be a little bigger, a little more epic, spanning the whole of the 20th century. And, with luck, we'll be moving toward shooting a film soon, so I've got a lot of energy going into that right now!
"The 12th Commandment"
From the Publisher:
Swirling with secrets and their consequences, exploring how revelation and redemption might be accessed through sin, and driven through twists and turns toward a startling conclusion, The 12th Commandment is a brilliant novel by award-winning author Daniel Torday.
