INTERVIEW WITH ZACHARY GERMAN

I interviewed Zachary German through email. Here's the interview.

K: First question.

Zachary, this will be the first question in this interview. It will not be very serious. Which animal do you think is more indifferent to it's surroundings, sheep or a large spider, like a tarantula?

Z: I think a sheep is more indifferent to its surrounding than a large spider, like a tarantula.

K: That was a very direct answer. I feel good about this interview.
Do you think that there should be more books written about young people doing normal things while bored or indifferent?

Z: Yes. Tao Lin's Eeeee Eee Eeee and Noah Cicero's The Human war are two recent examples of this type of novel. They make the world seem easier to understand, but not in a numbing way, like after you smoke marijuana. After I read Eeeee Eee Eeee I wanted to eat good food and clean my house and take a long bike ride. I'm not sure if that is the usual response. I'm not sure how I should answer a question that starts with "Do you think that there should be...". I think I would be happier if there were more books like that. I'm not sure. Maybe there are already a lot of books like that that I just don't know about. I think young people would be happier or more productive or some other version of the abstraction "good" if they read books about young people doing normal things while bored or indifferent. I hope I have managed to answer your question at least once.

K: I feel like you have. After I read Eeeee Eee Eeee I took pictures of things in my kitchen and looked at them and felt proud of the pictures. I also felt like talking to people honestly. Your reaction sounds like a "good" one, too.

You are writing a novel, I think. When you are done writing your novel, what will you do with it?

Z: Currently, a five thousand word excerpt from my novel is in submission status at an online publication. Right now I have written between fifteen and twenty thousand words total. When I have written twenty five thousand to thirty thousand words, I will show it to my friends who are published and hope that they will make it be published too.

K: I think that is a good strategy. If someone wanted to pay you $50,000 to write a 600 page book about cultural divide and multi-generational family drama taking place in 1930's Poland, would you do it? The person with the money will only pay you if you if the book wins the NBA and a Pulitzer. So it's a gamble, essentially. Would you try it?

Z: No. Would you?

K: No. I think that was a bad interview question. I will give you one more and that will be all. This will be a short interview, and that will be good.
Do you think the American youth is fucked?

Z: I think the American youth has a lot of opportunities to understand themselves or something. I'm not sure. I feel like there are less constraints in some ways. I am happy that there is the internet I think. I'm not sure what fucked means in this sense. I think that maybe more than before, the American youth is doomed to knowing that their existence is meaningless. I'm not sure. I feel nervous writing about concepts.