Torontoist's Jacob McArthur Mooney interviews Jon Paul Fiorentino

'Jon Paul Fiorentino sat down (electronically) with Torontoist's Jacob McArthur Mooney last week for a conversation about indexes, misdirection, and the comfort afforded by our intellectual obsessions ...

Jacob McArthur Mooney: Where does this book sit on your bookshelf, in the full narrative of your writing practice? ... First, let’s not discount the funny parts of Indexical Elegies. It’s a serious book, surely, but a serious book written by a funny person. I wonder, has what you wanted out of writing changed much over the years spent writing this thing? Can we ever go home to Asthmatica again?

Jon Paul Fiorentino: Asthmatica isn’t home for me. But I suppose some of its smart-ass attitude still feels like home. I think I.E. sits next to my other books and fits in quite nicely. It engages in a kind of lyric/alyric poetics that was explored (to a lesser extent) in Hello Serotonin and The Theory of the Loser Class. And it does not make earnest or predictable poetic gestures, and I’m proud of that.

Right now, I am writing a comedic novel called Invigilator. It’s the life story of a proctor of exams. It is not quite as metafictional or over-the-top as Stripmalling, nor is it as light and breezy and shticky as Asthmatica. Having said that, there will be competitive pillow fighting. And I’m sure some scenes will result in muffled guffaws. So, it turns out you can go home again!'

Click here to read the whole interview!