John Lanchester, whose most recent novel to date is “The Wall,” is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky, recorded at KPFA on March 18, 2019. The interview was first posted on May 7, 2019.
The Wall takes place in a very possible future in which the world’s beaches have disappeared as the planet has warmed and oceans have grown. Taking place in an unnamed country, which is clearly England, a wall has been built not only to protect the land from the rising seas, but to keep out refugees fleeing no longer habitable countries. The protagonist is a young man who must guard the wall, and if it’s breached, he is forced out of the country.
John Lanchester is a novelist and essayist who has written for The London Review of Books, the Guardian and other publications. His latest book is Reality and Other Stories, published in 2020.