DBC PIERRE
NEW WORLD
DISORDER
B(' Pierre attraets ahuse. Stuek In the inside nl his tnhaeen tin lid is a phrase assemhled linm l)1tteh language lridge magnets. 'l‘he 4-1 yeatrnld authnr ean nnly translate nne wnrd. 'Snme lueker‘s put that in there. ealling me sttliie stit‘l til l:tl‘l.. he \1l_\\ lhl'ntlgh :I elnud Hi “My ~tlp smnke. 'l'ye lelt it till I meet annther l)utehnian.’ 'l'he day alter he wnn the 3003 Man Bnnker l’ri/e lnr \i'I'IIuII (im/ [ill/1' aeenlades lnr his giddy tale nl :1 teenage 'l'esan
alnngside the
kid w rnngly aeeused nl :1 high sehnnl massaeie Pierre was alsn nuted as :1 ennman. drug ahusei and serial lnser. lt transpired that the Australian hnrn In wealthy British patents and partly raised in .\le\ien had spent mueh nl his Ills and .itis dning eneaine. engaging in emheHlement and trying In make :1 gn nl it as :1 eartnnnist. phntngraphei'. :idyertising enpywriter and lilmmaker. llekl eneked tip the lnt.
'l‘he authnr 'lessed 11p and alsn llung :1 lew hriekhats. deserihing himsell as :1 lreak. diekhead. arsehnle and a 'larting maehine‘. liy en his pen—name suggested :1 snmetimes unsaynury eharaeter: l)l3(‘ slunds l'nt’ l)it‘l_\ But ('lean. He says he was lirst duhhed |)irty Pierre Ialtet :1 eartnnn eharaeter) hy his hest lriend. in hnnnur nl his repeated apik'aranees iii enurt nntiees in Australian new spapers.
And lest we think any nl this is l’R-spinning sell»mythnlngising. he insists ennyitteingly that all nl it is sadly true. and supplies details as and when required. He nnly adnpted the niekname as his nnm de plume In ‘Ielegraph the laet that l dnn't take mysell Inn sei‘inusly. It‘s easy In he an authnr and imagine that eyerything ynu write has grayitas and meaning. By keeping the name hnpelully it shnws it‘sjust a hnnk.~
llappily. twn and a hall years nn. Duteh insults nntwithstanding. the rehahilitatinn nl the man knnwn In his lriends as l’ete l'inlay is in lull swing. Alter a liletime‘s lailure he's managed In write :1 seennd hnnk. [Mimi/(1's lint/sen ling/ix/i.
And heK sueeeeded in :ty‘niding any san nl
hrain-lree/ing hangnyer lrnm selling 750.000 enpies nl his dehut nny'el. and hanking the L5l).(l(l(l Bnnket‘ eheque. 'l‘he laet lliill he immediately like. the nest day Used that mnney In repay an Ameriean artist w'hnm he'd swindled nl' {MHHW [It'nhithly helped here. ('lean ennseienee. sparkling lttllse . . .
‘lt‘s strange.‘ Pierre relleets nn the pressure In prnduee :1 lnllnw-up tn :1 stnnkingly aeelaimed dehut. 'll \é'mnu had heen fairly well reeeiyed | wnuld hay e had a mental lx‘nehmark tn gel ny er the tnp nl. But it was sn imprnhahly lueky in its reeeptinn. and histnry shilted rnund it I tinished it helnre ‘)/II and suddenly it eame In appear :1 tnnre hraye and reley'ant hnnk than it prnhahly was when I w rnte it. And that made it
14 THE LIST 3 it» Mr . 111‘s
aeademie lnr me In think ahnut trying In mateh it. Magie was imnly‘ed there whieh I had nnIhing tn dn with.‘
Sueh /eitgeist-eapturing runaway sueeess. he enltelltdes. ‘aetually gaye me it lnl nl slitek. All I ean dn is put my hest lnnt lnrwardf
[MIMI/(1's Bin/ten ling/isli retains Pierre‘s enlnurlul tise nl \ernaeular. and his ennl way with an elahnrate hut /ippy image. It‘s as innnersiye and y'iyid :1 Iale as \i‘I'IlUII. hut in lresh and new direetinns. Instead nl an utterly- nnw trailer trash armpit nl.-\merie:1. Pierre leads 11s skipping thrnugh a near luture. nr :1 parallel nne. in :1 seary nu-liurnpe. 'l‘errnrism and healtheare priyatisatinn are the eyils running amnk in the LR ple. while the era/y-pay'ing that is natinnal hnundaries in the pitst-Sny'iet
('aueasus are lraeturing in ever tnnre genpnlitieally ehallenging ways. It's :1 Iale nl twn halyes. Well. three.
'l'hiny snmething Blair and (inrdnn—Marie (AKA Bunny) lleath are erstwhile Siamese twins. reeently separated and tipped nut intn the enmmunity alter spending all their liyes in a
remnte institutinn in the nntth nl lingland. Blair
is physieally the strnnger. Butmy mentally“ sn.
‘I WAS INTERESTED IN THE F EST ERING AFTERMATHS
OF CONFLICT '
'I‘hey head lnr l.nndnn. and get eaught up in a Ilnr them) ray e new wnrld nl enrpnrate disens. legal highs. identity eards. instant internatinnal enmtneree and eutting edge sandw'ieh teehnnlngy. It's last. lurinus and lunny. It‘s New l.ahnur nn enke. and Pierre gets in his dig at 'l'nny' Blair and (ini‘dnn Brnw n in his tw ins’ names.
In this l'iIPiIL‘lUll\ly glnhalised wnrld we meet impnyerished peasant l.udmila ly'anny‘a nn :1 mnuntainside in war-tnrn l7hlilsk. With a hrutally enmie. winee-indueing pungeney latniliar lrnm l'ernnn (ind Little. Pierre
intrnduees his titular 'hernine‘ just as her grandlather attempts tn hugger her and their
ethnieally hnstile neighhnurs adyanee tn the eraek nl mnrtais It‘s like (‘hekhny dramatised hy ('NN.
l-‘nr all nur Western enmplaeeney. the authnr is telling Us. it‘s a mad. had wnrld nut there. and it's enming eyer elnser literally. \‘ia the internet hride seam that. hilarintIsly. drags sex-starved Blair and his prntesting. lihidn-lree hrnther intn this w ar/nne in the Near-liast.
‘lt‘s a nnminal lnreign plaee.~ says Pierre nl his lietinnal enuntry. ‘lt's a place with lestering altennaths nl enntliet and l was interested in that.'
The follow-up to Vernon God Little was always going to be tricky for
DBC Pierre. Craig McLean meets the author on a London rooftop to find out whether his eagerly awaited second novel cuts the mustard.
He likes tn write 'at :1 distanee’. he says. He w rnte ahnut Texas in Balham. snuth l.nndnn. lle w rnte l.ndmi/u's lint/ten [Inglis/1 in his isnlated hnme in (‘nunty l.eitrim in Ireland. where he liyes with his ‘muse' t‘l wnuldn't say girlli‘iend' ). Althnugh In get :1 llaynur nt the etlmieally ennltised (‘aueasUs he trayelled tn Armenia. 'A lnt nl these enuntries‘ wars are past and they're in eeaselire. Btit the peane are stuek pretty tnueh where they were. as relugees.‘
We're standing nn the rnnltnp halenny nl puhlishers l5aher and l5aher in Blnnmshury. w henee we haye repaired sn Pierre ean smnke. l.nndntt lnnk’s gnnd l'I'nttI up here. 'Yep. hest lnnked dnwn tlpnn.‘ ehtlekles Pierre. He says elements nl his hnnk might appear lantastieal. But ey en in his rural hnme in the ‘hnnndneks‘ he enuldn‘t eseape 'l'nny Blair hnlding lnith nn telly. 'l‘he enmpeting \niees nl the Heath twins let the authnr explnre the sehism hetween ()Id and New Britain. l.udmila. meanwhile. whnse language skills are the nnly eapital that might help her lamily survive. represents the New \N'nrld l)i.s( 1rder.
Pierre lnund the girl whn visually represented l.udmil:1 alter trawling :1 Russian hrides wehsite ‘lnr hnurs and hnurs. liventually nne laee jumped nut whn emhndied the whnle prnmise nl the rest nl the wnrld. Sexy. sexy. hut dark and dangerous. lnnking nut lrnm a under :1 lringe nl hair. Snmething in her said. “(‘nme nn. suek'erl" She was gning In symhnlise eyerything lnreign all the resnurees that we think are there and are gonna lay dnwn at nur leet at the smell nl a quid.
"l‘he hnnk‘s ahnut Us and them and qtleslinns nl lnreignness whn we are. whn they are. w'hn they think we are and \‘iee y'ersa. and whn we think they think we are . . .‘
It‘s an entertaining and neeasinnally thnught- prny'nking hnnk. But is it :1 pnsitiy'e nne‘.’
‘I think sn. althnugh I'll struggle tn lind a speeilie way in which it is?‘ laughs this amusing. amused hlnk'e whnse trayels 7— and travails ~ have giy'en him :1 eanny' nutsider‘s eye. 'But it's a human hnnk. It's the same thing with Vet-nun. It might have seemed bleak and yinlenl . . .'
Pierre o— Pete A stuhs nut annther rnlly-up and lets it drill dnwn tn the payement helnw.
'But we‘re human beings and we're lueking stupid at the end nl the day. Once we aeeept that. things lnnk mueh rnsier.‘
Ludmila’s Broken English is published by Faber and Faber on Thu 2 Mar.