Robert D. Kirvel Q & A with Eastern Iowa Review
Chila: How did you come up with the very unique idea for "BioYou"?
Robert: While earning a Ph.D. in neuropsychology, I kept returning to a neuroanatomy textbook detailing how the breathtaking complexity underwritten by our central nervous systems is “wired in” from conception. In psychology, understanding what constitutes awareness, and a neurophysiological basis for attention, are major questions. A related one, it seems to me, is how the body knows so much about itself—enough to conjure awareness and perception from molecules—yet the heart often grasps so little about itself and others. The difference between what the body knows and what the spirit wants for itself and others could shed light on social issues, such as individual compassion versus avarice and more broadly, power and war and peace. Mirror neurons discovered in the 1990s and now implicated in empathetic responses are an example of relevant insights.
With regard to literary inspiration for BioYou, I would mention Oliver Sacks for the humanity he brings to his writing about inhumane afflictions of the human head, and Joyce Carol Oates and Anne Proulx for their penetrations into the human heart.
Chila: Your writing spans continents. Can you tell us about that? Are you bi or multilingual, or how do you manage such broad publication?
Robert: I try to read cover-to-cover one literary journal each week, domestic or imported. Several of my fiction stories, including a scathing treatment of gun regulation—or rather its absence—in America, were broadly rejected in the U.S. market but found prompt and enthusiastic acceptance in foreign countries. So much of our national perspective is ethnocentric, whereas literature at least should operate as a well-traveled, two-way street. I submit to journals and reviews abroad to expand literary outreach and my personal outlook. I have only “menu proficiency” in three foreign languages, but that isn’t a handicap, given competent translators of literature.
Chila: Give us a glimpse into your writing process, your quiet space where you do this artsy thing of yours.
Robert: I commit hours daily to writing in an office dedicated to that purpose, then interludes walking open spaces behind my house, mentally revising. I’m drawn to metaphor and obsess on syntax. Logic holds great appeal as long as mechanical matters don’t preclude understanding. In contrast to arguments by some to the contrary, logic, I think, is not the adversary of feeling and emotions such as love, nor is emotion necessarily the adversary of logic, though one may not easily comprehend the other. Both can lead to trouble or madness, and neither need constitute a barrier separating head and heart. In a work as dense as BioYou, the language itself must be interesting. I draw inspiration from quiet hours in nature and take it as a compliment when a reader finds it necessary, or simply wants, to reread a piece of my writing.
Chila: Where do you hope to go from here re: writing projects? Book(s)? Certain markets you wish to try for?
Robert: A chapbook of 21 interrelated short stories is currently in submission to various small presses, as is a lengthy novel. Of late I’ve been writing as much creative nonfiction as fiction.
Chila: What else can you tell us about yourself - a favorite hobby, a favorite food, a favorite movie or book? Random flings of info welcome.
Robert: Three interests for me these days are watching international or indie films, designing and stitching leather gifts, and spending time out with friends. A category unto itself is enjoying wild places. I taught college in Montana years ago and vowed to build a retreat in the Northern Rockies some day. I now spend several months each year away from the splendid but congested San Francisco Bay area, in a remote cabin near the Canadian border and overlooking Glacier National Park. Grizzly bears frequent the neighborhood as do wolves that occasionally roam the vicinity and my dreams.
Chila: How did you come up with the very unique idea for "BioYou"?
Robert: While earning a Ph.D. in neuropsychology, I kept returning to a neuroanatomy textbook detailing how the breathtaking complexity underwritten by our central nervous systems is “wired in” from conception. In psychology, understanding what constitutes awareness, and a neurophysiological basis for attention, are major questions. A related one, it seems to me, is how the body knows so much about itself—enough to conjure awareness and perception from molecules—yet the heart often grasps so little about itself and others. The difference between what the body knows and what the spirit wants for itself and others could shed light on social issues, such as individual compassion versus avarice and more broadly, power and war and peace. Mirror neurons discovered in the 1990s and now implicated in empathetic responses are an example of relevant insights.
With regard to literary inspiration for BioYou, I would mention Oliver Sacks for the humanity he brings to his writing about inhumane afflictions of the human head, and Joyce Carol Oates and Anne Proulx for their penetrations into the human heart.
Chila: Your writing spans continents. Can you tell us about that? Are you bi or multilingual, or how do you manage such broad publication?
Robert: I try to read cover-to-cover one literary journal each week, domestic or imported. Several of my fiction stories, including a scathing treatment of gun regulation—or rather its absence—in America, were broadly rejected in the U.S. market but found prompt and enthusiastic acceptance in foreign countries. So much of our national perspective is ethnocentric, whereas literature at least should operate as a well-traveled, two-way street. I submit to journals and reviews abroad to expand literary outreach and my personal outlook. I have only “menu proficiency” in three foreign languages, but that isn’t a handicap, given competent translators of literature.
Chila: Give us a glimpse into your writing process, your quiet space where you do this artsy thing of yours.
Robert: I commit hours daily to writing in an office dedicated to that purpose, then interludes walking open spaces behind my house, mentally revising. I’m drawn to metaphor and obsess on syntax. Logic holds great appeal as long as mechanical matters don’t preclude understanding. In contrast to arguments by some to the contrary, logic, I think, is not the adversary of feeling and emotions such as love, nor is emotion necessarily the adversary of logic, though one may not easily comprehend the other. Both can lead to trouble or madness, and neither need constitute a barrier separating head and heart. In a work as dense as BioYou, the language itself must be interesting. I draw inspiration from quiet hours in nature and take it as a compliment when a reader finds it necessary, or simply wants, to reread a piece of my writing.
Chila: Where do you hope to go from here re: writing projects? Book(s)? Certain markets you wish to try for?
Robert: A chapbook of 21 interrelated short stories is currently in submission to various small presses, as is a lengthy novel. Of late I’ve been writing as much creative nonfiction as fiction.
Chila: What else can you tell us about yourself - a favorite hobby, a favorite food, a favorite movie or book? Random flings of info welcome.
Robert: Three interests for me these days are watching international or indie films, designing and stitching leather gifts, and spending time out with friends. A category unto itself is enjoying wild places. I taught college in Montana years ago and vowed to build a retreat in the Northern Rockies some day. I now spend several months each year away from the splendid but congested San Francisco Bay area, in a remote cabin near the Canadian border and overlooking Glacier National Park. Grizzly bears frequent the neighborhood as do wolves that occasionally roam the vicinity and my dreams.
Many thanks to Robert for an interesting essay & interview! Very best to him. ~ Chila
Robert D. Kirvel is a 2016 Pushcart Prize nominee for fiction and a 2015 ArtPrize winner for creative nonfiction, has published stories or essays in the UK, New Zealand, Germany, and a dozen U.S. literary journals, such as the Columbia College Literary Review. Experimental Essay Award Finalist
Robert D. Kirvel is a 2016 Pushcart Prize nominee for fiction and a 2015 ArtPrize winner for creative nonfiction, has published stories or essays in the UK, New Zealand, Germany, and a dozen U.S. literary journals, such as the Columbia College Literary Review. Experimental Essay Award Finalist
