An Interview with Mavis Gallant
Excerpts
BIOGRAPHY
STÉPHAN BUREAU
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY WYLEY POWELL
I must confess at the outset that I was rather terrified of interviewing Mavis Gallant.
I had been a long-time admirer, knew the extreme rigour with which she undertook her work, and, most of all, from my research, sensed that she did not suffer fools gladly. In fact, I knew that she preferred to have her work speak for itself, and that she did not view literary criticism as an art form. Her choice has always been to concentrate uncompromisingly on her craft, to search for that perfect architectural form that lies in a great story. You have to come prepared: a great challenge . . . and a minor source of stress.
We agreed to meet at the apartment of one of Gallant’s Parisian friends, for the author’s apartment was her inner sanctum. A choice I of course respected, although I admit I wish we could have shown Contact’s viewers a glimpse of Gallant’s private world.