Last letter a laugh at life and culture
Luke Elworthy was born in India and comes from a family of publishers and farmers. Growing up in Wellington, he was educated at Church of England boarding school Christ's College, in Christchurch, and spent much of his school holidays at controversial Auckland cult, Centrepoint.
His novel The Last Letter of Godrey Cheathem is written around the life of esteemed New Zealand writer Godfrey Cheathem.
Cheathem died not long after completing his last letter in his cell in Paparua prison, never living to see the publication of his great novel. Cheathem's letter is written to his sister, and tries to explain the events that led to his imprisonment.
We ask Elworthy a few questions:
Tell us a little about The Last Letter of Godfrey Cheathem.
Godfrey Cheathem is in prison, writing to his youngest sister Rosemary to try to explain the events that led him there, having abandoned the “great New Zealand novel” he's been writing for much of his life. Traumatised by failing to match the creative successes of his precocious siblings, he's struggling to account for what he sees as his disappointing life, starting with his baffling experimental pottery, followed by his occasionally disastrous career in book publishing, later giving up on his novel. It's Rosemary he turns to, to listen and to help him tell his story. Although Rosemary knows a lot about Godfrey's life, there's much she has yet to discover, and as his letter progresses she encourages him to face up to some uncomfortable truths.
What are some of the themes you explore in this novel?
The novel explores questions of belonging, how each of us sees our place in New Zealand and the world, and the different ways we choose to live fulfilled, authentic and creative lives. For Godfrey this means exploring what makes him the person he is, and understanding why he's often attracted to people who've been abandoned, or who've abandoned others.
This is a humorous novel, how difficult was it to write a novel that is funny?
I think that to sit down, roll my sleeves up and say — “Right, I'm going to write a funny novel” — that would be difficult to impossible. The humour for me has to arise from characters' responses to situations, and in the comic writing that I most enjoy reading, that often means characters in situations that are sad in some way, or somehow painful. But the success or otherwise
of humorous fiction is decided by the reader; readers rarely seem to agree about comic writing, and all I can do is write what's true and funny to me, and hope that at least some readers will feel the same way.
What do you think readers will enjoy the most of about The Last Letter of Godfrey Cheathem?
I hope they'll find it an original w fa s$o3m5 ewhat peculiar and would-be artistic New Zealand family during the 1970s, 80s and 90s, told through Godfrey's own journey: one of self-discovery, and one that I hope points up, and helps us laugh at, some of the many absurdities of our life and culture.
Godfrey Cheathem, although a fictional character, inspires a writers retreat, can you tell us more about this?
An outbuilding on our property — used to store crates of apples from the surrounding orchard before it became a vineyard — is now converted into a guest house that operates for much of the year as a B&B.
We'd been thinking about ways to make more of the guest house during the quieter winter months, ideally in a way that would benefit the wider community.
It was only after the novel was finished, and thinking about Godfrey's not always successful efforts in the creative arts, that we came up with the idea of inviting artists and writers to come and create work here, and then to share that work, including with schools, libraries, the local art gallery and community groups.