Marlon James on Writing The Disappearers

Marlon James has written his most personal novel, The Disappearers. The book, which is nominated for the Booker Prize, draws from his life as a gay man in 1980s and 1990s Jamaica. He spoke about the book from his home in Brooklyn in an interview for Lit Hub.

James clarifies that the book is not autofiction. He says it is, however, the first novel where he is drawing so much from his life. He notes that this is usually a debut novel for people, but he had to wait six novels to do it. The result is a portrait of gay joy and pain in a society that derides gayness.

Drawing from Life and Interviews

James attended what he describes as a pretty posh high school in Kingston. He was never physically bullied, but he says verbal bullying was enough. This pressure to conform shaped his youth. Some prejudice in the novel is lifted straight from his boyhood. An example is when a character resists buying a Prince album because the cover would tarnish his reputation.

James also interviewed dozens of queer Jamaicans while researching the book. Many stories come from them. He compares the process to writing his earlier novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings. He says he didn't have to imagine much because the truth was stranger and wilder.

The Novel's Plot and Characters

The inciting arc of the novel involves a six-man, all-gay play staged in Jamaica in 1988. The troupe plans to perform John Herbert's 1967 play Fortune and Men's Eyes, which is about homosexuality in prison. A horrific act of violence interrupts rehearsals and scatters the actors.

James did not experience physical homophobic attacks himself. He says he knew about them, and all it did was send him further into the closet. He was one of many who ran to the church, hoping it would make him straight. This is where the novel diverges from his own experience. One young character in the book is swiftly embracing his homosexuality.

A Life Lived in Two Worlds

James did not move to America permanently until 2007, when he began a 15-year teaching career at Macalester College. Before then, he was escaping to New York for up to six months every year. He remembers living pretty dissociated lives during this time.

In America, he would put on what he calls faggy clothes and walk around downtown New York. In the Bronx, where he stayed with Jamaican relatives, he remained buttoned up. He describes this double life as being like Cinderella. By 9 or 10 p.m., he had to change back into his normal clothes. He says one reason he moved to the Midwest was to go somewhere family would never visit.

For the characters in his novel, such escape is largely not an option. A character named Jordan states that no faggot in Jamaica is living, they are not even existing, they are just surviving.

Parallels with Historical Bigotry

James says his research revealed parallels between the language used against gay Jamaicans and that used in historical lynchings in the United States. He notes that witnesses often blamed the victims. He found it shocking. The language of bigotry really is the same, no matter what you hate, James says. Bigotry is kind of unimaginative in that way.

The character Jordan channels this rage. But when the anger ebbs, the novel channels the love and humor of its characters. Jordan expresses a fascination with being gay, describing himself as spellbound by it from a young age.

James never received mentorship from a gay friend when he was young. It wasn't available. He had one lesbian friend, and her coming out put a strain on their friendship. He spent most of the 1980s in his bedroom listening to The Cure. He explains that Jamaica, as a former British colony, remains in some ways a Victorian society obsessed with morality but full of undergrounds.

In The Disappearers, James embraces a Jamaican subculture he long held at arm's length. He sees signs of improvement. A younger generation of queer Jamaicans is staying on the island, he says, which means every kid in Jamaica now has a gay friend.