Editors Note: Leon Uris died in June, and this interview is being run in tribute to his life. Visit The Bell to read more about Uris and his death. This article is reprinted with permission, and our thanks to Scáthán for allowing us to do so.
When novelist Leon Uris finished writing "Trinity" almost two decades ago, he had no plans to write a continuation of the story of the Larkin family and Ireland.
Interviewed recently via telephone, Uris, suffering from a bad back, talked about why Redemption, published in June as the continuation to Trinity, was due.
"It evolved from some of the fallout from Trinity," he said. "I realized there was more to be said about the Larkin family and certainly more to be understood about the Easter Rising and the significance of it.
"What evolved was really an unplanned pregnancy, and when the time came for me to get to the typewriter again, Redemption was what I wanted to get to the typewriter with."
Trinity was published in 1976, and it became a beloved novel. One that is still talked about among writers' and readers' circles. Tremendous amounts of fact are given to the reader through prose like only Uris can write, fans note.
The key to both novels was research, Uris said.
"Most people are staggered by research, but this is, after all, how I make a living," he said. "The first thing you have to do is get immersed in the project, organizing yourself, knowing what you are going after and not going after. It is extremely important to know what you don't want to find.
"Research to me is as important or more important than the writing. It is the foundation upon which the book is built.
"I have a sense of duty toward history, not to distort it and to keep within the framework of the basic truth."
Uris said he thinks that he has come a long way from Battle Cry, his first novel.
"I think 'Redemption' is a notch above the others just in its use of the language and the depth of the relationships.
"I'm really proud of this book. I'm older now, writing from a different level and even though the writing was easier, the energy expended was greater. I really put a lot of effort in the Gallipoli segment and it took the vinegar out of me," he said.
Gallipoli, a mountainous, barren Turkish peninsula between the Dardanelles and Saros Gulf, was a Turkish stronghold highly prized by the British High Command during World War I and probably the scene of the greatest blunder in British military history.
Uris asserted that there are many morals to Gallipoli. Two nations, possibly three with modern Turkey, emerged, he said.
"New Zealand was not a defined nation until then -- it was sort of an extension of an English garden. After Gallipoli, they became their own people with not so great a liking for the British," Uris said.
When asked about his use of Winston Churchill as a character in Redemption, Uris asserted that Churchill was a valid figure because of his father, Lord Randolph, and because of Gallipoli.
"I thought it was a wonderful way to keep the reader focused on what the history was without going into long prose about it. I thought it was very interesting to write it that way. It's really remarkable how Churchill managed to recover from the disaster," Uris said.
"I am very proud of this work because it is more about the meaning of the Easter Rising and its relationship to what this whole century has been about, people liberating themselves, freeing themselves," he said. "Although it was small potatoes in the grand scheme of massive things that happened in this century, it is certainly one of the greatest events of the century."
The Easter Rising took place on Easter Monday, 1916 in Dublin and even though it failed, the Rising was the catalyst for the eventual formation of the Irish Republic.
Asked how he came to write about Ireland, Uris said he was traveling, looking for a specific story that he never did write. His wife, who had undergone brain surgery and could not travel beyond Istanbul, went to Ireland with her sister. Soon after, she sent Uris a letter, stating that she had found "the golden place." He joined her in Ireland. That was the trigger that became Trinity, he said.
This writer met Uris for the first time in 1976, and Uris was quick to note that Tom shared the last name of Trinity's protagonist, Conor Larkin.
This latest interview with Uris presented an opportunity to ask him from where he had taken the Larkin name.
"I lived in San Francisco, just off Larkin Street. James Larkin, for whom the street is named, was a labor organizer in Ireland and San Francisco. I loved the name, so I used it," Uris said.
Reprinted with permission.
Copyright 2003 by ReadersRoom.com, LLC. All rights reserved
