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A Q&A with David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z When did you first stumble upon the story of Percy Fawcett and his search
for an ancient civilization in the Amazon—and when did you realize this
particular story had you in "the grip"?
While I was researching a story on the mysterious death of the world's
greatest Sherlock Holmes expert, I came upon a reference to Fawcett's role in
inspiring Arthur Conan Doyle's novel The Lost World. Curious, I plugged
Fawcett's name into a newspaper database and was amazed by the headlines that
appeared, including "THREE MEN FACE CANNIBALS IN RELIC QUEST" and tribesmen
"Seize Movie Actor Seeking to Rescue Fawcett." As I read each story, I became
more and more curious—about how Fawcett's quest for a lost city and his
disappearance had captivated the world; how for decades hundreds of scientists
and explorers had tried to find evidence of Fawcett's missing party and the City
of Z; and how countless seekers had disappeared or died from starvation,
diseases, attacks by wild animals, or poisonous arrows. What intrigued me most,
though, was the notion of Z. For years most scientists had considered the brutal
conditions in the largest jungle in the world inimical to humankind, but more
recently some archeologists had begun to question this longstanding view and
believed that a sophisticated civilization like Z might have existed. Such a
discovery would challenge virtually everything that was believed about the
nature of the Amazon and what the Americas looked liked before the arrival of
Christopher Columbus. Suddenly, the story had every tantalizing
element--mystery, obsession, death, madness—as well as great intellectual
stakes. Still, I probably didn't realize I was fully in the story's "grip" until
I told my wife that I planned to take out an extra life insurance policy and
follow Fawcett's trail into the Amazon.
Tell us about the discovery of Fawcett's previously unpublished diaries and
logbooks.
Researching the book often felt like a kind of treasure hunt and nothing was
more exciting than coming across these materials in an old chest in the house of
one of Fawcett's grandchildren. Fawcett, who had been a British spy, was
extremely secretive about his search for Z—in part because he didn't want his
rivals to discover the lost city before he did and in part because he feared
that too many people would die if they tried to follow in his wake. These old,
crumbling diaries and logbooks held incredible clues to both Fawcett's life and
death; what's more, they revealed a key to his clandestine route to the Lost
City of Z.
In an attempt to retrace Fawcett's journey, many scientists and explorers
have faced madness, kidnapping, and death. Did you ever hesitate to go to the
Amazon?
I probably should have been more hesitant, especially after reading some of
the diaries of members of other parties that had scoured the Amazon for a lost
city. One seeker of El Dorado described reaching a state of "privation so great
that we were eating nothing but leather, belts and soles of shoes, cooked with
certain herbs, with the result that so great was our weakness that we could not
remain standing." In that expedition alone, some four thousand men perished.
Other explorers resorted to cannibalism. One searcher went so mad he stabbed his
own child, whispering, "Commend thyself to God, my daughter, for I am about to
kill thee." But to be honest, even after reading these accounts, I was so
consumed by the story that I did not think much about the consequences—and one
of the themes I try to explore in the book is the lethal nature of obsession.
When you were separated from your guide Paolo on the way to the Kuikuro
village and seemingly lost and alone in the jungle, what was going through your
mind?
Besides fear, I kept wondering what the hell I was doing on such a mad quest.
Paolo and you made a game of imagining what happened to Fawcett in the
Amazon. Without giving anything away about the Lost City of Z, I was wondering
if you came away with any final conclusions?
I don't want to give too much away; but, after poring over Fawcett's final
letters and dispatches from the expedition and after interviewing many of the
tribes that Fawcett himself had encountered, I felt as if I had come as close as
possible to knowing why Fawcett and his party vanished.
In his praise for your book, Malcolm Gladwell asks a "central question of our
age": "In the battle between man and a hostile environment, who wins?"
Obviously, the jungle has won many times, but it seems man may be gaining. What
are your thoughts on the deforestation taking place in the Amazon?
It is a great tragedy. Over the last four decades in Brazil alone, the Amazon
has lost some two hundred and seventy thousand square miles of its original
forest cover—an area bigger than France. Many tribes, including some I visited,
are being threatened with extinction. Countless animals and plants, many of them
with potential medicinal purposes, are also vanishing. One of the things that
the book explores is how early Native American societies were often able to
overcome their hostile environment without destroying it. Unfortunately, that
has not been the case with the latest wave of trespassers.
You began this journey as a man who doesn't like to camp and has "a terrible
sense of direction and tend[s] to forget where [you are] on the subway and
miss[es] [your] stop in Brooklyn." Are you now an avid outdoorsman?
No. Once was enough for me!
Early in the book, you write, "Ever since I was young, I've been drawn to
mystery and adventure tales." What have been some of your favorite books—past
and present—that fall into this category?
I'm a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, and every few years go back and read the
stories again. I do the same with many of Joseph Conrad's novels, including
Lord Jim. I'm always amazed at how he produced quest novels that reflected the
Victorian era and yet seem to have been written with the wisdom of a historian
looking back in time. As for more contemporary authors, I read a lot of crime
fiction, especially the works of George Pelecanos and Michael Connelly. I also
relish books, such as Jonathan Lethem's "Motherless Brooklyn," that cleverly
play with this genre. Finally, there are the gripping yarns written by authors
like Jon Krakauer and Nathaniel Philbrick—stories that are all the more
spellbinding because they are true.
Brad Pitt and Paramount optioned The Lost City of Z in the spring. Any
updates?
They have hired a screenwriter and director and seem to be moving forward at
a good clip.
What are you working on now?
I recently finished a couple of crime stories for The New Yorker,
including one about a Polish author who allegedly committed murder and then left
clues about the real crime in his novel. Meanwhile, I'm hoping to find a
tantalizing story, like "The Lost City of Z," that will lead to a new book.
Anything else you'd like to add?
Just that I hope that readers will enjoy The Lost City of Z and find the
story of Fawcett and his quest as captivating as I did.
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