NOAH HAWLEY

The Fargo showrunner on writing a state-of-the-nation fantasy novel

- Jonathan Wright

HOW DO YOU GRAPPLE WITH WRITING about contemporary America, a place where fantastical events seem ready to intrude on day-to-day reality at any moment? For Noah Hawley, his answer was to embrace the fantastic. “It became clear over time that Anthem had to be a fantasy novel,” he says of his latest book, “but rather than a true fantasy novel, it’s a fantasy novel that takes us through our real surroundings.”

But how do we define “real”? One of Anthem’s recurring themes is the idea that the “line between fact and fiction has really broken down, to the degree that two people can be convinced of alternate realities”. And not just alternate, but irreconcilable when you consider, say, the hostility with which QAnon followers, conspiracy theorists with beliefs rooted in the notion of a satanic cabal opposed to Donald Trump, view the established media.

It’s an idea touched on by one of Hawley’s characters, a teenager who calls himself The Prophet. “He says, ‘You know, 33% of Americans believe that angels and demons walk among us, and some similar number believe that UFOs are real,’” explains Hawley. “And he’s asked, ‘What do you believe?’ He says, ‘Well, I believe that the more people believe it, the realer it becomes.’”

The book also has a character who calls himself Randall Flagg, a recurring character in Stephen King’s work. In a fictional world, reasons Hawley’s Flagg, why can’t he be a fictional character? One way to look at 6 January 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol Building, says Hawley, is to see it as “sedition as cosplay”.