In conversation with... James Cahill

“Inspiration comes randomly, often at moments when I’m not actively thinking about writing…”

- James Cahill

James Cahill has worked in both the art world and academia for the last ten years, combining writing and research with a role at a leading contemporary art gallery. He is currently a Fellow in classics at King’s College London. His writing has been published in the TLS, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the London Review of Books and The Burlington Magazine, among other publications.

Image: James Cahill, © Darren Wheeler

Tell us about your debut novel, Tiepolo Blue?  

Tiepolo Blue is the story of a coming of age in midlife. The hero, Don Lamb, is an art historian – an expert on the paintings of Giambattista Tiepolo. One day, a contemporary installation appears on the lawn of his Cambridge college, resembling a pile of rubbish. Don’s reaction is violently hostile. He makes a public blunder which forces him to leave Cambridge. He moves to south London, where meets a young artist, Ben, who awakens new thoughts and sensations in him. Don learns for the first time about love and desire. As his life takes a wilder course, he looks into his past. He reconsiders everything that has mattered to him, and he finds his oldest friend, Val, revealed in a sinister new light. 

What inspired you to write the book?  

Tiepolo Blue began with the character of Don. I imagined a man who is renowned in his field, and yet imprisoned by his own persona and rigid ideas. I wondered what it would be like for such a man to break out of his old world and to embrace his long-suppressed sexuality. The book was inspired, too, by my own experiences – growing up in south London, encountering the gay scene in London as a teenager, and working in the art world in London. Art was a huge inspiration, from the paintings of Tiepolo through to the controversial works of the 1990s. 

What authors have inspired you?  

The list is too long to reproduce, and always changing. Writers who were in my mind as I wrote Tiepolo Blue include James Baldwin, Anthony Burgess, Roberto Calasso, André Gide, Siri Hustvedt, Javier Marías, Iris Murdoch, and Donna Tartt – and also the Roman poet Ovid.  In the novel, I wanted to evoke the kind of unstable mood and fluctuating pace that you find in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. 

What is one book everyone should read and why?  

I don’t think there’s a single book that I’d advocate as vital for everyone. I’m not sure such a book exists. Maybe in the past I would have proposed something superbly canonical, like the Iliad (which I do love). There are certain books that have been – and will always be – seminal for me, often for quite personal reasons. One of these is Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse. In terms of the books I recommend to people: it’s often the last thing I’ve read! Recently I’ve been recommending Hanya Yanagihara’s To Paradise. I wasn’t sure about the epic length of the novel as was I reading it, but in the end I felt that the scale of the book worked in the story’s favour. I found the final third riveting.  

Where do you feel most inspired to write?  

Inspiration comes randomly, often at moments when I’m not actively thinking about writing – when I’m walking, for instance, or in the shower. A change in location often produces new thoughts and ideas. That can be a different country, or it can just be a case of going to a café or pub to write in. 

How much does mythology come into your writing and does it inform your experience of the city?  

Mythology was a key inspiration for Tiepolo Blue, particularly Ovid’s stories of bodies changing into new forms, and the many works of art that have reimagined those tales. Don’s story is one of gradual metamorphosis – an epiphany that’s also a dark, disastrous unravelling. Myths of art come into the plot at numerous points. Classical myth, whether it’s the fable of Narcissus or the tale of Pygmalion, operates as sort of mirror. Like art, myth allows Don to see himself from a new angle. As his experiences become more intense and more catastrophic, his entire life takes on the quality of a myth – with the line between reality and perception dissolving.   

What is the best advice you have ever received?   

In terms of writing, it’s probably the advice just to carry on, and not to be too concerned about what people will think.  

What do you love about London?  

It’s a cliché, but I love the diversity of London. It’s a city composed of multiple smaller cities and towns, with distinct communities and atmospheres. I love London’s parks – Brockwell Park is an important setting in Tiepolo Blue. I’m intrigued by Dulwich, and the way it forms a sort of suburban, picturesque oasis within south London. In the novel, I aimed to capture that charming oddness. As Don’s life spirals into a kind of exhilarating chaos, he moves beyond the enclaves of Dulwich, progressing through the different regions of south London, and arriving at Soho. My own discovery of the gay scene was a lifechanging moment. Part of me that had been entirely private was suddenly visible in the world – expressible. This discovery inspired the story of Don’s immersion in Soho nightlife, where his emerging desires begin to harden into an identity.   

What upcoming projects can we expect to see from you?  

I’m working on a second novel, called The Violet Hour. It’s also about art, but different from Tiepolo Blue in many ways. The setting is the globalised contemporary art world of the present day. And the story revolves around three main characters – an artist, an art dealer, and a collector. It’s a portrait of the contemporary art world, but it’s also a story of loss, longing and redemption. 

What can people expect from We Move: Debut London Literature? 

I’m hugely excited to be speaking at ‘We Move: Debut London Literature’ alongside the acclaimed debut authors Gurnaik Johal, Arji Manuelpillai and Sheena Patel, whose works of fiction and poetry respond to London in all sorts of ways. I hope that people can expect an eclectic range of voices, perspectives and views. 

Instagram: @jamesmcahill
Twitter: @JamesCahill

See James Cahill at We Move: Debut London Literature as part of The Southbank Centre’s London Literature Festival. Thursday 20 October, 7.45pm - 9.15pm, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall. Ticketed at £10. Click here to book.