Q&A with Louis Jones discussion

Exactly how smart is Mark Perdue? He seems to have all these sharp insights, but most of the time be totally wrong about a lot of obvious things.

Science question. Is it true that physicists would say numbers existed by themselves abstractly, before there was anything to be numbered?

In the previous book, Particles and Luck, Mark is tempted to cheat on his wife. As he is in this book. Is he actually unfaithful in his heart?

Why do the kids want to touch the Hollywood sign? And is it possible to make the climb as described in the story?

The book seems to have no firm view of the ethics of abortion. It's unclear whether this abortion was justified or even immoral, given everybody's regrets about it.

Hi Louis. I really enjoyed your book. I have to admit that at first I had trouble with Mark's infidelity, but there was something about his need to be with Blythe that came from a place of needing to be understood, of companionship, so as much as I didn't like his behavior and felt bad for his wife, I somehow understood what he was going through.

Yes, Blythe is definitely an intelligent listener for him, coming along at the right time. Somebody outside his life he can talk to. But, for most of the book, I think the reader knows that Blythe is not really flirting, that Mark is indulging his vanity in the idea of sexual possibility, all the while congratulating himself on his fidelity. "The People Around Him" is one more category of the multitude of things he totally misunderstands. And I think the reader knows, too, that it would be a bad idea for everybody, to make a go at a superficial sexual encounter. When he does, at the end, act on his fantastic miscalculation, I guess I mean it to be an instance of how, though we humans have no idea of the reasons or consequences of our actions, or of events, somehow we're caught up by a basket of circumstances, and saved perhaps by a benign society or benign biological framework. I really like the "Mister Magoo" comparison Blythe makes: Mister Magoo, in the cartoon, steps blindly off cliffs and onto swinging wrecking balls, landing luckily, always happy, always misunderstanding.

Wow, thanks so much for your thoughtful answer! Yes, what I really loved about the moment when Mark finally feels compelled to make a move on Blythe is how the previous scenes prepare us for this moment in a way that makes it crystal clear that this night will not end with a romantic sexual encounter and that Blythe will reject him in some way. We see it coming and it's awkward and hilarious and also kind of sad to see him fail and then almost choke to death. Great scene!

Hi Louis -

I just finished Radiance this weekend and enjoyed it very much. I can definitely say I've never read a book like yours. I heard about it on Galleycat and the story sounded intriguing. I had a question about the kids going to touch the Hollywood sign. The sign to me is the embodiment of the glitz and glamor and superficiality of Hollywood so I thought that the kids wanted to pay tribute to this world because they wanted to be part of it. But getting to know Bodie, it seemed like the sign represented all he despised and felt contempt for, so I wasn't sure why they went there in the first place. I also wasn't entirely sure about how Bodie affected Carlotta. Was she just enarmored with Bodie or did he actually change her beliefs? And also, what did Mark learn from Bodie? I got that he was troubled by the young man's ideology and confidence and that it rattled him in a way that was positive in the end, but I guess I just wanted more clarity. Unless that's not the point. Anyway, love to hear your thoughts! PS: Loved the goldfish incident. So perfectly "random on purpose."

Gabriele, thank you for the expression "random on purpose," which I plan to adopt. It just about nails the feeling I was going for. That fish hangs out there like a metaphor of something but one can't say exactly what. I like that about it. It evades the mechanical.

Anyway, you ask probing questions. I think Bodie's and Lotta's motives for scaling that hill are mixed. If you asked them, they'd say, like teenagers, inarticulately, "'Cause it's cool." Which might sum it up well. I think they want To Have Done It. Even though they're experimenting with a new contempt for society's bad values, they do still have some of the same idols before them. So it's not exactly logical, in their romance-drugged minds. Mostly, also, they want to be together and have an adventure.

I'm so fantastically glad that you felt Bodie had "rattled" the lonely arrogant man but that "in a way it was positive in the end." I guess my random-on-purpose technique is evoking just the responses I'd have hoped for. My own belief is that we'll never know whether Bodie was a fundamentalist Christian with an unshakeable faith; what we do know is that Bodie is Mark Perdue's personal hallucination (or nightmare?) of such a creature. And it brings Mark to a hint of "faith." Which is all he needs. Now, this would have to be a faith conscionable to a scientific man. But that idea that some law existed (the beauty of numbers) before matter existed is as close a brush with theism as a rational scientist can come. Mark isn't a systematic philosopher. Most of the book is about how he, and all of us, misunderstand everything, absolutely everything. But he's toying with this basic understanding of a theism, in the end.

Anyway, thanks for all your provocative questions.