Ask the Author: Lydia Ship
[Roxane Gay / May 16th, 2011 / Interviews ]Lydia Ship’s lyrical fiction appears in the March issue and she talks with us about the neighborhood prom, where she normally sings from, Wagner in Klingon and other matters.
1. Where do you normally sing from?
I am a better listener these days. But singers in general have a unique available range of meaning and subtext in volume, tone, and musicality, to say nothing of precedents for key and time signatures; add music and lyrics to the physical presence of a singer, and there are few if any more complete artistic expressions. Not surprising, then, the claim that singers sing from the soul, though I would go so far as to say that singers create the soul, or rather, the singer together with the song are creators in their own right: “She sang beyond the genius of the sea. …And when she sang, the sea,/ Whatever self it had, became the self/ That was her song, for she was the maker.” Obviously, I find singers fascinating. Even shower singers have their appeal.
2. What would your neighborhood prom look like? How would it be catered? What would be on the playlist?
Oh, a neighborhood prom – this is a definite fantasy! We’d be outside, with maybe some trees, a creek, and a legendary neighbor’s property with a “No Trespassing” sign nearby to make things interesting. Of course, PANK staff would be there. We could take a vote, but I’d vote pizza. There would be a DJ, of course, and everyone would throw down, all night. We could bring blankets and look at the stars. I wish I could tell you about playlists, but all I really know is what I got from The Rolling Stone’s “100 Albums You Must Have.” Yeah, it’s like that, although anything from Paste or McSweeney’s Music Issue is cool with me, or someone else’s playlist for sure, and now you really see I know nothing. I can dance, though, started early, because back in the day we used to bring a boombox to gym class.
3. What has been your experience with opera?
All of the cliches are true, but all of the cliches are much more fascinating than they first appear. Going to the opera is another cliche – tux, gown, the too-big steak at dinner because you’re going to be sitting in the theater for a long, long time, and you begin to feel like you’re in the eighteenth century, with the wonderful exception of an electronic screen running across the stage’s proscenium, scrolling the opera’s lyrics.
4. Why does talent always supersede aesthetic appearance?
A beautiful aesthetic appearance is a resented talent, but a talent nonetheless. And regarding ability (such a blurry line between talent and ability!), moral duty buys mortal beauty, or something like that.
5. Why did you choose a Norse woman for this story?
Ragna seemed Norse to me because I imagined her as a character in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, in which, “the ring is a symbol of the power of art to make or transform a world,” as Wikipedia in all its glory notes. Most of all, the Valkyries in the cycle share Ragna’s passionate nature.
6. How would a Wagner opera sound in Klingon?
Gotta leave this one to the experts, cheers!