British novelist and journalist Lawrence Osborne is no stranger to the thrilling complexities of expatriate life, having lived and worked in Paris, New York City, Mexico, Istanbul and now Bangkok. Following on from the critical and commercial success of The Forgiven, which was named one of the best books of 2012 by The Economist , Library Journal and The Guardian , his latest novel, Ballad of a Small Player , is a bleak and beautiful exploration of a pathological gambler's escape from London to Hong Kong and Macau, a morality tale like no other. Osborne spoke to .
I believe novels, as Nabokov used to say, begin as a pulse, an image, an "obscure emotion". I never start with a plot, but I've always been intrigued by the aura of the supernatural in Chinese casinos. I began writing Ballad in a hotel in Phnom Penh several years ago. During my visa runs from Bangkok, I visited Macau and although I am not a gambler I felt the tone should be autobiographical in part. I don't know why, but it was tricky to write. I felt it out gradually though until I had the shape of a fable. Of course, it mimics in some way my own life, since I have lived in Asia for a while now. The draw of the East for the Westerner is itself a venerable subject, but here we are dealing with those who wish to disappear or reinvent themselves. My character is a sociopath rather than a genteel Jan Morris type bemusedly observing "the locals". He is here to stay, and die.
I don't really think of myself [writing in] that way. I don't make a big fuss about being an expat or gweilo because I've lived almost my whole life outside Britain. In fact, I think the term is a bit parochial now. The world's not that big any more. I think writers, in particular, should be supreme cosmopolitans - surely this is the way things are moving? Well, I hope they are anyway.