91快色

UPDATE NOV. 8, 2022: Dr. Suzette Mayr has been named the winner of the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel, The Sleeping Car Porter. The announcement was made at a black-tie dinner and award ceremony in Toronto last night. The Scotiabank Giller Prize is the most prestigious literary prize in Canada, recognizing excellence in Canadian fiction. The following article was first published on Oct. 27, 2022. 

 

The evolution of Suzette Mayr鈥檚 The Sleeping Car Porter (2022) isn鈥檛 just a story of extraordinary creative inspiration, though its tale of a gay, Black sleeping car porter on a 1929 passenger train from Montreal to 91快色, which becomes stalled for two days thanks to a mudslide in Banff, is certainly an inspired premise.

The fact that it was shortlisted for, and has now  speaks to the richness of its vision.

But the novel鈥檚 origins are also steeped in a staggering amount of research that began nearly two decades from the initial spark of an idea, which has seen a professor of creative writing in the at the 91快色, taking on the work of historian, detective, investigative journalist, and cultural anthropologist.

This intensive preparation for the novel, Mayr鈥檚 sixth, has taken her from Cranbrook and Winnipeg to Montreal and New York City, among the stops at a myriad of museums, libraries, railway stations, and archives.

鈥淚t was a long path and a ton of research along the way,鈥� Mayr says. 鈥淚 was so nervous about getting the details right, and it took years.鈥�

Mayr sought to understand the lives of Black and gay men in the 1920s, a particularly difficult task where the latter was concerned, as so many gay men of the era were closeted. She also delved deep into the cultural mores of the times, with an emphasis on railway culture and the era鈥檚 unsung sleeping car porters.

The book had a 鈥渧ery bumpy genesis,鈥� says Mayr, originating 19 years ago from a conversation with celebrated poet Fred Wah, who had been her creative writing professor at the 91快色. Wah made an offhanded remark that Mayr should write a book about sleeping car porters.

鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 even sure what to do with that, but I always I like to have projects on the back burner, so I thought 鈥榃hy not?鈥欌�� she recalls. 鈥淏ut I wasn鈥檛 mature enough as a writer to handle the topic at the time. I certainly didn鈥檛 know anything about historical research.鈥�

Researching the lives of sleeping car porters was a true challenge because so little had been written about them. 鈥淚t was working-class history, so it wasn鈥檛 considered important,鈥� says Mayr. 鈥淚 was so na茂ve. Did people have running water in their homes? Did they have light bulbs then? I really had no idea.鈥�

Searching for answers, Mayr went on the hunt for photos of the interiors of working-class homes from the era. 鈥淭here weren鈥檛 any I could find, because the only photos in the archives were from the homes of rich people,鈥� she says.

鈥淚 was talking to an archivist in Winnipeg, and he mentioned they did have photos from the inside of working-class homes, but they were crime scene photos. I鈥檇 be looking at these photos going 鈥楢ha! There is a light bulb hanging from that ceiling! Oh, and there鈥檚 a dead body in the corner of the room.鈥�

She adds: 鈥淚 followed some wild paths to find what I needed. What was disorienting about the historical research was that there were no books on what I wanted. It was more a matter of finding a footnote in a book and then chasing it down, or finding an old postcard and taking it from one archivist to another.鈥�

Mayr鈥檚 research hit its stride in 2013, thanks to a SSHRC Insight Grant which gave her the means 鈥渢o do some serious digging,鈥� travelling to museums and archives all over North America, with the aid of a hired research assistant.

Slowly, the pieces came together, helping Mayr shape her story. An old article on how Canadian railway companies actively recruited in the Caribbean added one piece to the puzzle. Another article focused on the criminal record of a white man who was caught engaging in sexual activity with a Black sleeping car porter. One more building block for the story.

But the novel鈥檚 inspirations weren鈥檛 purely historical. A 2012 mudslide in Banff, which shut down the Trans-Canada Highway, also provided inspiration.

鈥淲hen I was putting the plot points together, I thought about where the drama would come from. In 2018, I read about a train that was delayed for 45 hours in a separate incident,鈥� says Mayr. 鈥淣ow that would be a hard ride. Right then I knew, my sleeping car porter鈥檚 train was going to be delayed by a mudslide in the Rocky Mountains.鈥�

While has been, by far, the most research intensive of all Mayr鈥檚 novels, she points out that they鈥檝e all involved copious research.

For The Widows (1998), about elderly German immigrant women determined to plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel, she found herself researching Niagara Falls and the stories of real people who had taken the plunge. She also delved into the psychology of German women who came of age during the Second World War.

For Monoceros (2011), which revolved around the suicide of a bullied teen, she did a deep dive into interviews with and memoirs by parents of children who had died by suicide.

鈥淭here鈥檚 always research to do,鈥� Mayr says. 鈥淚f you do your job well as a writer, nobody knows you鈥檝e done all this research, because the work reads effortlessly,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want the research to show, because if you do, the book won鈥檛 work. So, you basically hide it.鈥�

鈥淧eople tend to think that with writers, the work comes only from a place of creative inspiration, and yes, imagination is a big part of that. But I think people would be surprised by the abundance of research that feeds a novel and builds its foundation.鈥�