Q & A: blogger and first-time novelist Mark Sarvas
The man behind the Elegant Variation blog and author of ‘Harry, Revised‘ is ready for the criticism he’s built a reputation on. Sarvas says he expects the ‘sharp knives will come out.’
Mark Sarvas, who was raised in a Hungarian Jewish family in Queens, N.Y., has become notorious as the acid-fingered blogger at the Elegant Variation, a literary site he launched in 2003.
Right out of the gate, he’s been a champion of authors he loves — John Banville, J.M. Coetzee, Zadie Smith — and a harsh critic of those he doesn’t: the Los Angeles Times Book Review, British provocateur Christopher Hitchens, literary “it” boy Keith Gessen, and, going back to the site’s first week, writer Steve Almond. (That vendetta provoked a 4,000-word retort on Salon’s website from the Boston-based journalist and author.)
Sarvas’ new novel, “Harry, Revised,” is about a disoriented nebbish who is so self-conscious he can barely act. But that doesn’t keep him from falling for a red-haired waitress named Molly while getting lunch at Cafe Retro on the day of his wife’s funeral. Complications ensue.
We talked to Sarvas, who lives on the Westside and came across as a remarkably well-behaved lad. Could it be because of the book about to drop?
What came first for you, the desire to criticize and assess or the urge to create characters and narrative?
The desire to write, to create, came first. Like a lot of others, I came out to Los Angeles originally to write screenplays, and when you spend any amount of time doing that, you quickly find that it’s not very satisfying. I would get feedback from my agent and producers that ‘There’s a novelist in you trying to get out.’