Humour's dark knight: Gerard Woodward

Gerard Woodward laughs heartily when asked how he came up with the concept for his latest novel, Nourishment — a black comedy set amid the London blitz that incorporates cannibalism, lavatories and explicit letters.

The former Man Booker Prize-shortlisted author explains the book is about how people consume and sustain each other; about how relationships are all about give and take. Nourishment's underlying message is delivered, however, in between a host of embarrassing and darkly comical situations.

Woodward's early career as a poet is clearly evident in the detailed observations in his prose. Nourishment is littered with clever similes, metaphors and very precise dialogue. According to Woodward, the more surreal scenes in the book "fell into place later".

Inspired by an anecdote

He told Weekend Review: "The idea came from a story my mother told me about one of her friends, who had received a letter from a prisoner of war [PoW] asking for saucy literature. My mother's friend approached her for advice but she had no idea what she should do; the anecdote always stuck in my mind.

"The other aspects of the novel, such as the war, rationing and cannibalism, all kind of fell into place later. Initially I was working on something else entirely; in the first version the central character was in retirement but it wasn't going anywhere until I remembered my mother's story.

"Humour plays a very important role in Nourishment; it has been described by many people as a comic novel. I like to balance humour with various issues and make the reader unsure as to whether they should laugh or cry. I want them to be uncertain of the right emotional response and doubt whether or not certain situations are meant to be serious. I believe comedy, and not tragedy, has the most underlying importance in life."

The humour that Woodward is referring to comes in the form of various farcical situations, including an act of unintentional cannibalism, a scheme to end world hunger by the use of protein pills and a sinister robot that symbolises one of the main protagonists.

Nourishment revolves around Tory Pace, a woman living with her irascible mother during the Second World War. Her children have been evacuated and her husband, Donald, is a PoW seeking sexual gratification via the medium of a saucy love letter. Tory's initial disgust and subsequent feelings of a sense of marital duty at the request lead her on a journey that takes several bizarre turns into dangerous territory.

Woodward said: "Tory's life is thrown into turmoil by a letter that she receives from her husband Donald, who is a PoW. She was brought up on Victorian values and is reserved, so she does not know what to do. But she does feel pressure and a sense of duty to do what her husband asks of her. The letter takes her on a journey into the seedier scenes of life.

"The theme of Nourishment is apparent in various forms. All the characters in the book want different things: Donald seeks sexual nourishment and the power that food brings him as a bargaining tool in the PoW camp; Tory is also seeking fulfilment. The robot is sinister and funny at the same time. It is absurd but it was another way of creating a person; a euphemism of how people manipulate others into becoming the person they want them to be.

"I enjoyed the characterisation and development of Mrs Head, Tory's mother. She has a moral foundation and Tory is very worried she does not meet her mother's high standards. However, Mrs Head is just as vulnerable as any of the other characters. In terms of the cannibalism scene, I just liked the idea of writing about two prim and proper women eating human meat and their subsequent reactions. Mrs Head is horrified at the prospect, whereas Tory just decides to struggle on through the matter."

Back to poetry

Woodward is now beginning to shift his focus back to poetry after several years writing fiction. His trilogy about the Jones family was critically acclaimed, with August shortlisted for the 2001 Whitbread First Novel Award and I'll Go to Bed at Noon shortlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize. Furthermore, his latest collection of poetry, We Were Pedestrians, was shortlisted for the 2005 T.S. Eliot Prize.

Woodward said: "I actually found the transition from poetry to literature quite difficult as they are very different forms. I also find it hard to write them both at the same time, so at the moment I am focusing only on poetry."

Woodward admitted that when writing Nourishment, he was unsure whether he had managed to successfully portray the atmosphere and attitudes of the Blitz era. However, he said early feedback suggested many people would have reacted in a similar manner to Tory had they received an illicit request in the early 1940s.

He said: "It would be very difficult to write the novel in modern times as attitudes have changed so much. I was actually worried that I did not have the moral atmosphere right in Nourishment. I wondered if people in the 1940s would have been upset at being asked to write such a letter. I have since learnt that many sections of society in those days would have been offended. However, most people would not even raise an eyebrow if such a situation arose in today's modern world."