Author Hage offers insight into successful first novel

Winner of the 2006 Quebec Writers’ Federation awards for first book of fiction, DeNiro’s Game was also a runner-up for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award for English-language fiction. Despite all the acclaim, however, Hage seems to have remained humble.

“I was always under the impression that panels and analysis of your work came later in life,” said the reserved Montreal author.

DeNiro’s Game tells the story of two young men living a life of delinquency in civil war-era Beirut. As their crimes escalate against the backdrop of war, Bassam, the story’s narrator, wishes to escape while his friend George strives only for power and survival, reveling in the violence.

The apocalyptic tone of DeNiro’s Game was said to be, during the course of the evening, in the vein of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Hage did not disagree with the comparison, admitting his novel drew from several inspirations, not only literary in nature. The novel’s title, in fact, is a direct

reference to the character portrayed by Robert DeNiro in the seminal Vietnam epic, Deer Hunter; specifically, the infamous Russian roulette scenes. The deadly game also works itself into Hage’s narrative.

“I’m a visual artist and I had a period in my life where I watched a lot of movies,” Hage told the Examiner.

Hage also cited French literature and Arabic poetry as being major influences of his. The over all poetic tone of his novel is a testament to his native Arabic language.

“I grew up in a very poetic language,” he says. “I remember when I was in school; every week we had to read poetry in front of the class.”

While Hage’s early life may have been marked by poetry, it was also marked by the terror of being a first-hand witness to war. While Hage emigrated from his home

country while still fairly young, the war, he says, has had a lasting impact on him—an impact, however, that has not always been apparent.

“It took me 20 years to realize I had lived through a horrific experience,” he says.

While Hage was the first to admit that Lebanon has had a long history of warfare, he nevertheless came to the defense of his

country of origin.

“I hope that people are not so simplistic to label that culture as one that is inherently

violent,” he said.

One of the few criticisms Hage received came during the question period when an audience member commented on the very dark and bleak tone of the book.

“I don’t know how to write happy novels,” he said. “My next novel is even darker.”