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Pif Magazine
ISSN: 1094-2726
Published by:
Pif, LLC
PMB 248
4820 Yelm Hwy SE
Suite B
Lacey, WA 98503-4903
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| PAST INTERVIEWS | MORE INTERVIEWS |
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This year Helen Ellis released her first novel, Eating the Cheshire Cat. Raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Ellis holds a master’s degree in fiction writing from New York University. Her stories have been published in Southern Exposure and The New York Press. She lives in New York City. Camille Renshaw: What is the essential difference socially between Southern women and other American women? Helen Ellis: First thing that comes to mind: Coca-Cola for breakfast. |
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I can’t imagine hauling myself out of bed at 6:30 a.m. without knowing that little red can is waiting in the fridge. People always tell me I’m a morning person, chipper, a bundle of energy, awake. How do I do it? The answer is easy: Coke for breakfast – it fuels Southern women. Coke makes us perky on the outside, while we’re bubbling on the inside.
We can slap on a happy face, insult you, and you won’t figure it out until the car ride home.
In Eating the Cheshire Cat, the homecoming queen lies, cheats, and steals to get what she wants, and her neighbor, the country club deb, needs kid gloves to mask self-mutilation. Their mothers break down the neighborhood competition by brainwashing, kidnapping, throwing stones, and doing their daughters’ science projects themselves. And the nice girl from the other side of the tracks works two jobs, studies hard, and is happy just to be loved by the fat kid. Southern women are varied and unpredictable. We are not all belles, ding-a-lings, sorority sluts. We are strong and more than capable. And we try hard to get our way. Subtlety is ideal, but sometimes subtlety doesn’t get you past the door.
Southern women are champions of themselves. We are our number one fans. No matter how worn the tin is, we’ll keep dancing on our roofs.
CR: Like the Letterman joke about the South: "Coke. It’s not just for breakfast anymore." Other than Coca-Cola, why do you think Southern women are so fiercely, yet covertly, independent?
HE: I know I have trouble with this: I am woman, hear me roar. Problem is, I scream myself hoarse. It stems from being so close to a period in time when women were discouraged to work. In that package, you got to be pretty and make gourmet meals out of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup, but you still had to ask for money to buy a hat. You also had to "be sweet" – a common prescription for dealing with anything. Going to school? "Be sweet!" Going to a party? "Be sweet!" Hanging onto the back bumper as the repossessor totes meemaw’s grandfather clock to the dump? "Be sweet!"
A second remedy is to put on some lipstick.
After years of this, it gets real hard to keep up the niceties and keep the lip liner from bleeding. You get so paranoid that someone’s going to come and rip the tablecloth out from under whatever life you’ve set for yourself. You’re always watching your back, your neighbors, the guy who claims he’s here to fix the kitchen sink. It gets tiring – it’s just easier to approach things in a calm, steady way than burn your bra in the front yard and wind up with no support.
CR: Both the title and the novel structure play against Lewis Carroll’s work. How do his stories work along with the fears and imaginations of your Southern cast?
HE:
The Lewis Carroll connection is very simple. I came up with the title
before I ever knew what the book was about. (The same thing has happened
with my new book, Tilt.) Eating the Cheshire Cat is about
three girls who chase their destinies down rabbit holes only to find themselves
in pretty weird Wonderlands. As when Alice was taunted by the Cheshire
cat ["But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad
here. I’m mad. You’re mad."], these three girls find themselves in
extreme situations and have to take even more extreme actions to get themselves
out – as if taking a bite out of their accuser’s ass!
That’s about as far as the connection goes. I have three Alices, and they encounter one bizarre character after the next. Even if the Walrus is a Tri Delta alum.
CR: What do you hope to do with Southern women that no one else is doing?
