Shaun Rouser was a cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of The Blackstone Review, where he also contributed fiction and nonfiction. His chapbook of short stories, Family Affair, was published by Red Bird Chapbooks, and more of his short fiction has appeared in Colloquium.
His story, "The Circular Republic," appeared in issue 104 of The Rupture.
Here, he speaks with interviewer Andrew Farkas about Möbius strip-like structures, footnotes, and the eternal struggle of the dispossessed.
Please tell us about the origins of "The Circular Republic." What sparked the initial idea and caused you to start writing the first draft?
I don't recall what sparked the story, per se, but for some time, going back years, I've wanted to create a story with a Möbius strip-like structure that turns on itself seemingly without a definite beginning and ending. My attempts before "The Circular Republic" were degrees of meeting expectations and failing short of expectations, but they thankfully led to this story.
Although the story itself is mind-bending, what overwhelms (in a good way) the reader here are the nesting footnotes. So, why did you choose this particular form for this particular story? What effect do you hope for it to have on the reader?
I wanted to find a way to have the story's narrative replicate and mesh with the story's structure, which the nested footnotes provided. It was vital for me that plot and structure reinforce one another to such a degree that they become inseparable. The more impossible it is for readers to imagine the story being told with a different structure, the more successful I believe the story is.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of "The Circular Republic" is the fact that, based on the excavations, nothing has really ever changed. Right off, we would expect that the islanders' way of life was much different before, but that doesn't appear to be the case. I'm wondering, then, if you could talk about the ideas connected to colonialism and postcolonialism that pervade this story and how you are using those ideas.
My reading of the story has always been a mix of nihilism and optimism. The St. Marians are victims of colonization, but they also defeat that power to win their independence. With that in mind, the story for me is about eternal struggle, especially for the dispossessed. A very good friend of mine complicated this idea for me, however. Looking at the final two lines of the story, he noted that it's not said directly what's found but implied, which opens the possibility the seat of government is not discovered and a different history (and, by extension, a different future) is realizable. This wasn't something I considered, but the best readers always see angles that writers don't.
What have you been reading recently that you might recommend?
I recently finished Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, which was awesome. I'd read Sula years ago but didn't return to her work until her passing, like many people I suppose. Regardless, Song of Solomon is definitely worth reading.
What are you writing these days?
I have a possibly irrational fear that if I don't stay busy I'll forget how to write or lose my voice in some way, so I like to be at work on something. I'm currently writing some short stories for a possible collection as well as a nonfiction project of personal reflections.