Anakana Schofield's experimental novel Bina wants readers to face the fear of dying
This interview originally aired on Oct. 5, 2019.
Bina is the third novel by Irish-Canadian author Anakana Schofield, who was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller prize in 2015 for Martin John and won the Amazon Canada First Novel Award in 2013 for her novel Malarky.
Bina follows the title character, a 74-year-old Irish woman who is part of an underground group that helps people to die on their own terms. However, when her best friend Phil wishes to die, Bina is reluctant to help.
Written in brief fragments, Bina explores female friendships, love and death through darkness and humour.
Take heed
"The novel is told in warnings. I'm fascinated by language and form — my way in when writing a book is always to find form. A warning is one of the earliest languages that we are exposed to. We are warned at the beginning of life — 'Don't touch this,' or 'Leave that alone!'
"I thought, 'Why not have a language of warnings upon exit?' I've made a lot of mistakes in my life and I have great respect for my elders, my elder women especially. I like the idea that older women would be giving me the warnings like, 'Watch out, you're going to face seven years of perimenopause,' or 'Don't eat mangoes!'
A warning is one of the earliest languages that we are exposed to. We are warned at the beginning of life — 'Don't touch this,' or 'Leave that alone!'- Anakana Schofield
"I'm obviously joking, but there's a serious interrogation into our exit that is absent and missing. For some reason, it's the subject of mass avoidance."
An ordinary-extraordinary woman
"Bina is some woman for one woman. That's how I describe her. She's had enough at the beginning of the novel and she's been arrested for assisting people to end their lives. The novel is set in Ireland, a country where medical assistance for dying is illegal. She's awaiting trial. She's a single, solitary woman who knows there is nobody coming to help her. No one is going to save Bina.
As a writer, as a person who attempts to create literary art, my chosen approach is to posit philosophical questions that often perturb me in a literary manner.- Anakana Schofield
"She's walking toward the edge of the planet and she's shouting behind her warnings to us to help us to carry on."
Face our fear
"We are all going to die. Every single day, we are one step closer to dying. Some of us will die sooner than others. And yet every single day, it's a 24-hour avoidance of that subject. As a writer, as a person who attempts to create literary art, my chosen approach is to posit philosophical questions that often perturb me in a literary manner.
"Writing fiction is the place to do that."
Anakana Schofield's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
