Jonathan Kemp is a crafty and creative wordsmith. He has been awarded the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award and has also been shortlisted for the Green Carnation Prize and long-listed for the Polari First Book Prize. His first novel, London Triptych was well received and remains a favourite among many of the So So Gay team.
The East-London based writer’s second book Twentysix - due for release on 3rd November 2011 and reviewed by us this week – centres around sexual encounters of a variety of anonymous men. So So Gay spoke with Kemp about the book and the process he used in piecing these liaisons together.
‘I can’t really call it a novel’, says Kemp. ‘It’s a collection of short stories based on erotic encounters with men. I wasn’t so focused on just writing erotic stories, I was interested in the way sex is presented in the literary sense. I’ve tried to use language creatively to capture the pleasure and physical and emotional connections of these characters.’ The book holds twenty six various encounters; ‘Each story is titled after each letter of the alphabet, hence including twenty-six stories. ‘I’ve really been inspired by the works of Georges Bataille, Kathy Acker and Jean Genet, who have all managed to use language is a such a magical and powerful way’.
Writing about such encounters, in the depth and detail that Kemp shares, would leave many of us blushing. I asked how his friends and family have reacted to his latest work; ‘Actually everybody was really supportive,’ he boasts jokingly. ‘They knew what I was hoping to achieve and the challenge I had set myself to use language in such a different way. There was a review in the Guardian a while ago for my first novel London Triptych that suggested the sex was too frequent, I guess everyone knew what was coming when this book was published!’
I asked Kemp if there was room or even consideration to take these characters or exploits further. Could there be an entire novel set around one of these encounters? ‘Possibly’, he suggests. ‘There is certainly more to be said about these connections. There are definitely characters in there and possibly elements of the same characters in a variety of the different stories. I think repeated readings of the book would allow the audience to find the connections between characters, you would be able to yield further connections. I will probably leave this book and the stories in it where they are for now. I am a fan prose poetry’, he adds. ‘I love the challenge of trying to capture a lot with a concentrated use of language. There’s really no need to add to what’s there’.
People may feel that a book of this hedonistic nature may further segregate the LGBT community, or that publishing stories like those in Kemp’s book could result in a step backwards for this group. ‘I knew, consciously, whilst I was writing, that it was important for me not to pass judgement on any of the practices within the book. For me this book allowed me to look in to these anonymous encounters and explore the spirituality that exists in these transient connections. I’ve not tried to glamourise the physical side of things, I wanted to examine the beautiful chemistry in what happens’.
Twentysix – By Jonathan Kemp
Before turning to books, Kemp spent years working in, and writing for, theatre. I asked if this is something he could see himself getting involved with again? ‘I wouldn’t rule it out’ he says. ‘I have some ideas, but that’s all they are at this stage. I miss, sometimes, the collaborative nature of the work. At the moment I am busy finishing of my third book, Hannah Rose which is likely to be published mid-2012. This novel will be quite different, I’m stepping away from the sexual side of things, which will be quite a change. I was ready to move on – as a writer you have to go where your writing takes you. I must say however that I really did relish writing Twentysix, it was a political experience. I really enjoyed tackling the sexual nature of the book from a literary approach. It is a shame that anything like this which has a sexual nature is automatically relegated to the pornographic category. It is a tough, but interesting political time for us as we continue to examine what the gay lifestyle is. I enjoy looking at the language in which we write and the way we represent our sexuality.’
Twentysix is released on 3rd Novemeber 2011 and is available for preorder through Amazon.
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