Nina Dunic explores the power of human connection in her debut novel The Clarion
Daphné Santos-Vieira | CBC Books | Posted: October 6, 2023 6:46 PM | Last Updated: October 6, 2023
The Toronto writer is longlisted for the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize
Nina Dunic is a freelance writer and journalist living in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough. Her first novel The Clarion is on the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. The shortlist will be announced on Oct. 11.
The Clarion is a novel about two siblings struggling to find a sense of purpose and belonging. Peter is a trumpet player and kitchen staff and his sister Stasi is making her attempt to work in corporate which ultimately leads to therapy.
As the siblings endure the many trials and tribulations of their generation like promotions and absent lovers, can they find their sense of self and keep their connection strong?
Dunic has been longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize four times: in 2023 for The Artist, in 2022 for Youth, in 2020 for Bodies and in 2019 for an earlier version of Bodies. The 2024 CBC Short Story Prize is currently open.
Dunic spoke to CBC Books about how she wrote The Clarion.
Loneliness and connection
"Thematically this book is really about connection. And I noticed some readers, when they come back to me, they talk about loneliness. So I do want to point out it is a book about loneliness. But the other side of that — the other half of loneliness — is actually connection.
"How do we connect? What makes us feel connected?
"For Peter, his loneliness is very specific. He's not just looking for a specific group of friends. He's not looking for a romantic relationship. Instead, he feels something bigger; he wants to feel connected and united with all people. He values a sense of collective belonging. There are parts in the book where he talks about feeling the same as others and wanting everyone to feel like they're part of one thing.
There are parts in the book where he talks about feeling the same as others and wanting everyone to feel like they're part of one thing. - Nina Dunic
"I think with The Clarion, I wanted to take it one notch above. So it wasn't just finding your tribe. It wasn't just finding this cluster of people that have things in common with you. It's, 'What if you felt that feeling with everybody always, all the time?'
"How big could that tribe be? Could it be all people all over the world, everybody that you know and even people that you may disagree with on certain things? What if you felt that same moment, but for all of humanity? That is the idea behind Peter's loneliness and it's also his ritual, which just happens to be getting drunk in a club and dancing with strangers in the dark.
"But that's him tapping into this moment where he just feels connected to everybody, regardless of who they are."
Making room for a sister
"And then on the other hand, I brought in the sister character, Stasi. She's the opposite. She doesn't value this kind of collective belonging idea. She's individualistic, she's ambitious, she has personal goals. She sort of has things in her life that she does that are selfish. So her life and the way she views herself is very much about the self — and she's kind of obsessed with herself, if you want to put it that way.
"So my first draft, I sent it to my agent and he thought that the structure was a little unconventional. His first suggestion actually was to cut out the sister entirely. I didn't want to do that. And so he said to balance her out with him. So then I gave her more time, more chapters, more space, and so that basically their chapters alternate and she's almost half of the book at this point.
I find any type of feedback will just give me new ideas. It's like bringing that second person into the room — because the room where you write, you're always alone. There's so much solitude in writing. - Nina Dunic
"I would actually say having his feedback was a turning point, because I find any type of feedback will just give me new ideas. It's like bringing that second person into the room — because the room where you write, you're always alone. There's so much solitude in writing.
The importance of the clarion call
"The idea of the clarion call was such a beautiful concept to me. It was so innocent and pure — simply the idea that one call, one person, one thing could bring everybody together.
"I thought it was very lucky that the phrase is because of the trumpet; it's a historical phrase because of trumpets, and I've always loved trumpets. I used to call it a sad trumpet: there would be a song or something that was playing and all of a sudden in the background, you could hear the sad trumpet coming in. It was like a mournful note and it was always played by a trumpet.
"When it came time to make a character, I said 'he's going to be a musician and he plays the trumpet.' I was taking this idea of clarion call and putting it in the body of a character. I made him a trumpet player and then I just sort of let the plot roll out after that. I really always felt that the idea of a clarion call was so beautiful, and I wanted to write about it. In the end, I turned it into someone's loneliness."
Going from short stories to a novel
"My background is in short fiction. I've had a lot of success, luckily, with short stories. When it came time to write a novel, I have to admit that I was intimidated. I had enough stories together for a short story collection and I presented that to my agent. He read them over and he said to me, 'Nina, I want you to write a novel.' He wanted to start with the novel first and then have the collection of short fiction as the second thing to publish.
"The way I approached it was by coming up with that structure. I just broke it down in my mind. I thought of this character, Peter. I thought of this sense of longing based on this idea of a clarion call. I decided I wanted to do it over five days. That's where the structure came in, where I knew Monday he would be going to an audition, Tuesday he would be going to work, and then it was so much less intimidating, because I just knew what I was doing for each chapter.
It can feel really big to open a document and write the first sentence and just think, this is the first sentence of my novel. Instead, I got to break it down into more manageable pieces. - Nina Dunic
"It can feel really big to open a document and write the first sentence and just think, this is the first sentence of my novel. Instead, I got to break it down into more manageable pieces.
"This is the first sentence of this chapter where he's going to an audition. All he's doing is adjusting his tie in the mirror. It felt like something I could do, something I could write, as opposed to imagining myself tackling this great thing of writing a novel.
"So finding that structure early on basically helped me do it."
The writing journey
"I would say that the CBC Short Story Prize has been such a big part of my life.
"I've only been writing fiction for about five years, going on six. I entered the prize every single year. It's like a tradition. It has been a big part of this journey for me because you're working on a novel, but on the side, you still want to write short fiction, you want to write other things.
"You want to keep that muscle strong as well while working on this larger project. So yeah, it was almost like the prize kept me company this whole time and also was such an encouragement every time I got on the longlist. It was so exciting to tell my agent about it, tell family and friends — and then most recently, tell my publisher."
Nina Dunic's comments have been edited for length and clarity.