Student Profiles: Jim Hunter
Though
I try to keep them separate, it is inevitable that my ‘part-time’ work
as a novelist informs my work as a student of English literature. It
so follows that the important elements in my fictional work become the primary
focus of my critical work. More to the point, when I’m beginning
a fictional topic, I know that there is no way I can spend greater than a year
working on this subject matter if there isn’t a strong theme or moral
that compels the work. In essence, I write with a particular ethical
purpose, all the while trying to entertain. I assume this same drive
to be true of the subjects of my critical work, mainly Restoration-era dramatists. The
most important question I ask about a work is “Why?” “Why
was this written?” “Why should I read it?” “What
is the ethical purpose that spurred this work and is it in any way a relevant
subject of study?” I choose the Restoration because this is a time
of intense paradigm shifts, the results of which can be clearly seen in modern-day
culture, thus making the literature relevant and provocative. For
me, this enduring quality is one of the most compelling aspects of literature,
and as a novelist, I can only dream to achieve it.