Getting to know Richard Lemm
ORIGINALLY FROM Seattle, Washington, Richard Lemm has taught English at UPEI, in Charlottetown, since 1986. During this time, he’s seen significant shifts in the kinds of stories Islanders are telling, as evident in an anthology he recently edited called Riptides: New Island Fiction. Saltscapes spoke with him about the Anne of Green Gables legacy, the evolving identity of Islanders, and zombies.
Q What brought you to PEI?
A I was working on my PhD at Dalhousie, in Halifax, and had a thesis supervisor who was quite happy that I did my work wherever I wanted to. I became involved with Libby Oughton, the publisher of Ragweed Press. I moved to PEI to be with her.
Q It was for love, then.
A I came here for love, indeed. And it seemed like a very good environment for a writer. I thought, “I’m not going to have as many distractions as I do in Halifax.” This was the grand illusion of moving to a place like PEI. It didn’t take more than a few months to get to know people in virtually every arts discipline.
Q What was the literary landscape like?
A PEI was a hotbed of poets, but had very few fiction writers... I wanted there to be fiction life after Anne of Green Gables.
Q How does the Anne of Green Gables legacy define the Island?
A We’re the only jurisdiction on earth for whom a literary writer is a mainstay of our economy. She’s extremely important for a lot of Islanders, particularly for those who have devoted a lot of time and attention to keeping Montgomery’s legacy alive—scholars, amateur researchers, fans. We’re blessed to have this relatively benign, benevolent, sweet vision. But this inheritance has stood in the way of appreciating PEI in all its kaleidoscopic reality—the good, the bad, the ugly. Our major fictional figure is too far in the past to have been an inspiring figure for the next generations of writers.
Q In your time at UPEI, how has the telling of Island stories changed?
A In the ’90s there were more people writing about the traditional way of life of their parents or grandparents. I noticed a radical change about 10 or 12 years ago. The younger writers are infrequently writing about rural PEI. Their worlds are much more urban and suburban..
Q You say PEI comes unbuttoned in Riptides. What do you mean?
A There’s far less worry about what the neighbours are going to think and far more willingness to write openly, frankly about all manners of things. Every Islander knows there’s another side of the Island way of life we sell to tourists and to ourselves—sweetness and decency. I don’t mean dark, horrible things. I mean the prices paid for the sweetness. When you look at the PEI landscape, what is the price paid by farmers—the hard work, the financial worries, the marital arguments, the tensions with kids?
Q What do the concerns in these new stories say about PEI today?
A The Island is changing. It’s a more flexible, tolerant, liberal place. Globalization has a lot to do with it, the American-influenced entertainment industry. When the plebiscite took place about the bridge, there was concern about the Island way of life being changed or corrupted. Forget the bridge. Satellite TV and the Internet have transformed the way people think and feel about PEI.
Q How are these influences reflected?
A I have an honours student who was writing a novel about PEI being overrun by zombies, centering on a large, extended family up in Montague. He’s influenced by watching “24” and “Dr. Who.” Maybe the next popular PEI writer is a detective writer or a gothic, horror novelist.
Q Is anyone writing historical fiction set in PEI?
A Not many. A few people have said, “Maybe our history just isn’t as rich as Newfoundland’s or Nova Scotia’s.” That’s not true. You just have to delve into it.
