Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh discusses his 10th novel, which "couldn't have taken place anywhere else but Miami."
It’s been 22 years since Irvine Welsh dug deep into the darkest dark of Edinburgh’s drug culture and came up with one of the unlikeliest blockbusters to ever hit bookshelves. That book, of course, was Trainspotting, and while its fame was seriously helped along by Danny Boyle’s 1996 film, it was Welsh’s words (specifically his insistence on street phonetics) which set the tone of the career to come.
Since then there have been another dirty dozen of fictions, some of them long-form (Glue, Porno), some of them short-form (Reheated Cabbage), and some of both that also made it to the big screen (The Acid House, Ecstasy, Filth). There was even a romp that made its way to Miami (Crime), and a prequel to his debut (Skagboys). But no matter the size or the setting, each and every offering came off pure, unmitigated Irvine Welsh.
Welsh’s 10th novel, The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins, is decidedly no different, despite the fact that its cast is all American, its protagonists (and perspectives) are all woman, and it’s set right here in the MIA. Then again, Welsh would be Welsh no matter what or where.
We reached out to the part-time South Beach resident at his home in Chicago on the eve of his next American book tour to see what the infamous author is making of Miami and its most infamous beach.
Who should we thank for luring you into the sex lives of Siamese twins?
IRVINE WELSH: I was interested in writing about the horrible dichotomy we have in our society between sport and art. How you have to be either a meathead jock or a poncey arty type. I was always both. I wanted to explore that in two characters and saw them as coming together and representing a complete and actualized person. It was also a chance to look at our media culture, and how a TV channel has to create a narrative around characters to sucker us into watching regularly.
Did you source the sex lives of Chang and Eng and/or any other actual Siamese twins?
IW: I did, but not in an in-depth manner. The Siamese twins in the book are a sideshow, and their relationship runs parallel to Lucy and Lena's. They take different positions on the twin's proposed surgical separation, and that helps define and illustrate their different characters.
That covers obsession; wanna now give us a sneak peek at Siamese’s most obsessed?
IW: Lucy is a very driven, sporty woman; she's a serious athlete and trainer. She really has a messianic belief in the power of physical training to transform lives. She hates time wasters, who would be people who want to just work out rather than seriously train. She's aggressive and confrontational in relationships, and doesn't take any s---. Of course, her tough persona was developed as a response to her being in a situation when she was powerless to prevent herself [from] being abused. She's made sure she will never be a victim again, which is good, but she hasn't faced up to the psychological trauma the abuse caused her, which isn't so good.
Lena is a very talented artist, who doesn't believe she has the right to that talent. By constantly seeking the approval of others, she undermines herself. She's basically a good-hearted woman, but is depressed through not facing up to her talents. She is depressed, overeats, and becomes massively overweight. She also becomes obsessed with Lucy, believing that Lucy's discipline and power can be her salvation.
Who serves as the Yin to the leading ladies’ Yang?
IW: It's all on the two main characters; they are the Yin and Yang of the story. It's essentially a twisted romance, and like all romances, it ends with the persons involved denying something of themselves to create something bigger.
Would you say that South Beach is also a star of this show?
IW: I think so, very much. It probably couldn't have taken place anywhere else but Miami. There is the astonishingly visual culture, the light, and therefore the art, the beach and therefore the body imagery and the gyms. Lucy and Lena are, in some ways, extreme archetypes of ambitious transplants who have washed up in South Beach.
Any other pockets of Miami play out in the book?
IW: Yes, a lot of the action takes place in a semi-abandoned penthouse apartment in Downtown Miami during the height of the property crash of few years back, when things got really desperate for the people who overbuilt down there. It was a ghost town back then, but it's starting to establish itself as a proper downtown now. I think that's great. The Miami area is always going to be about the beaches, but all truly great cities need a vibrant, interesting downtown.
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Speaking of Miami and its most infamous strip of sand, how’d you wind up with a pad on South Beach?
IW: I've had a place in SoBe for about eight years. I first came back in the ‘90s for the WMC when I was DJing. Basically, it was an excuse to hang out with friends from the UK and have fun. I kind of feel in love with it. When the Chicago winters kick in, I jump on a flight and get down there. I've made a lot of friends over the years, so it's easy to slip back into the different scenes.
What was it about the hallowed ‘hood which compelled you to commit?
IW: I love the climate, and it encourages an easygoing hedonism, whereby people don't take life too seriously. I love the Latin American vibe; Colombia and Mexico are two of my favorite countries, and there is a big South/Central American influence there. I like the kind of voodoo darkness you get there, and how everybody in the bars has a colorful backstory. I love the food, and the South Florida Boxing Club where I go to get back in shape. Most of all, I love the beach. Give me a stack of novels and set me down on the sand around 10th Street and I'm a happy camper.
Does the Beach still hold its original allure for you?
IW: I find that if I have serious work deadlines, I'm better staying away from Miami. I love going down there when I've broken the back of a project. It's a great place to transition from work into leisure time. But I work on a project basis, so I could be in SoBe five months of the year, or five weeks, there's no set pattern. But Art Basel and the WMC and Ultra are the big times in the winter, so I try and do at least one of those two.
If you had to sum up Miami in general to a creature from another world, what would you say?
IW: I have to do this, as I explain it to people from Scotland regularly. I say to them, "Just go, and when you get there, don't go looking for the scene. Go to the beach and a few bars and it'll come to you."
How ‘bout for South Beach in particular?
IW: When you get to the beach, don't be scared to leave it. Check out the Gables, the art in Wynwood.
That all said, shall we count on seeing even more of Irvine Welsh in Miami, as well as even more of Miami in the works of Irvine Welsh?
IW: I think so. It's such a great place for me to write about as it’s a city and culture that's emerging before your eyes, and not ossified in the same way the great Northern cities in America are. I wrote Sex Lives of Siamese Twins partly to give me an excuse to spend more time down there, and I'm exploring more Miami film and book projects.
Irvine Welsh reads from The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins on February 4 at 7 p.m. at Books and Books (265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables). For more information, go here.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF JEFFREY DELANNOY