In present-day Maastricht, a lecturer at the fictional Faculty of Film Studies suffers serious damage to his reputation after a damning video of him is leaked. Is he who people thought he was? Is the reaction justified? What is the truth? All questions Weusten’s characters struggle with in the first half of Fake Fish.
Perspectives
“I still don’t know what the right answer is,” says Weusten. That was also not her intention. “I wanted to present all the different points of view, I very deliberately chose a plurality of perspectives. I hope this novel offers an insight into other people’s points of view, and that afterwards, people can be more understanding towards people who hold different opinions.”
She let herself be led by her characters. “How do they react to a situation, what are their motives? They had to be real people, flaws and all, not black and white. In the beginning, you put too much of yourself into them, but little by little, they become their own person. Sometimes they even have their own ideas. During one writing exercise, I started a discussion with one of my characters. ‘Why are you doing this, aren’t you a feminist?’ I asked her. ‘No, I’m not, you made that up,’ she said.” She laughs. “It sounds a little schizophrenic, but at the time I really did wonder where it was coming from.”
What is real?
The question of what is real or not plays out on an increasingly larger scale throughout the book. The second half is set twenty years into the future, in a dystopian word where the authorities are trying to wrestle back control of reality and ban all forms of fiction.
The result is a Maastricht that is at the same time so familiar and yet totally alien. And for readers who know the city, that is precisely what makes the story even more oppressive. All the street art has been removed or replaced with hyper-realistic images. Singing is no longer allowed – lyrics fire up the imagination too much, the radio only plays instrumental music. There are cameras everywhere and all phones now have a special, compulsory tracking programme installed.
“I followed the advice I give to my own Creative Writing students: write what you know, but feel free to let your imagination go nuts,” says Weusten. “I wanted to give my day-to-day environment a twist and at the same time, write about a heavy topic in a style that grips you from the beginning. In the style of Dutch author Renate Dorrestein, Canadian Margaret Atwood and Japanse-British Kazuo Ishiguro, for example.” And indeed, Weusten’s novel is a real page-turner, albeit one that sticks in the mind once you’ve finished.
Inspiration
She drew inspiration from movies, music and even real-life events she experienced. “There are two important moments. The first was when a student walked into my lesson, stating: ‘I’m not going to read this author’s work, because they said objectionable things.’ This turned out not even to be true. We managed to have a good discussion about it, but that’s not always possible.”
The second was during the pandemic. “I lost a friend, because she was completely taken in by various conspiracy theories. We could no longer understand each other, so we completely lost touch – such a shame.”
In English
Fake Fish was published in English – the language Weusten wrote the novel in – by a British publisher. Why didn’t she write it in Dutch, her mother tongue? “I didn’t set out to write a novel at all. I wanted to improve my creative English, so I applied and was accepted to the Faber Academy (a renowned creative writing school in London, ed.). I had to submit the first 20 thousand words ahead of time. And of course, I’ve been teaching in English for nearly twenty years, I’ve written a couple of short stories in English. It’s what my creativity is used to by now. I did try rewriting the first chapter in Dutch, but it felt very unnatural.”
Will there ever be a Dutch translation? “I hope so, although I’m not sure I’ll do it myself. I’m trying my hand at my first literary translation – an anthology of stories written by FASoS colleagues – to see how I do. It’s much more creative work than I thought, you really have to think carefully.” Besides, she’s working on her second novel and a series of semi-autobiographical stories, also in English.