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What's better than one fantastic author? Well, two of course! Salman Rushdie talked with Marlon James about Jamaican archetypes, language, and Gay Talese for this week's literary double whammy of a podcast.

Rushdie spoke admiringly of James' newest novel A Brief History of Seven Killings. In particular, he was interested in the evolution of language shown in the book:

"One of the things you learn in this book is you learn an enormous amount of language, and there's a point where you talk about the transition of what the people were called, like the yardies becomes rudies become shottas. And shotta is a shooter. So Shotta Sheriff is somebody you made up who shoots people."

As implied by the title, several slayings occur in A Brief History of Seven Killings. James described the gunman archetype so  central to his storytelling as closely related, or even derived from, the American cultural landscape:

"Jamaican gunmen were hugely influenced by most of the Clint Eastwood westerns but also The Dirty Dozen and so on... Eastwood provided this archetype, this sort of badman archetype, sort of keep quiet, carry a big gun, and it also added visuals to the kind of cowboy mythology which is crucial to reggae music. We learned storytelling from Marty Robbins  and Tennessee Ernie Ford and so on. You go into any Jamaican household there'll be Tennessee Ernie Ford hymns. There'll be Elvis Presley's Peace in the Valley. There'll be Marty Robbins's Gunfighter about. So the archetype of the gunman came from the gunslinger."

James noted the influence of Gay Talese on his writing, particularly with regards to "writing around" a subject. This technique was pivotal to his novel in that the book is based on the true story of the Shower Posse gang:

"I read "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" years, years, years ago, and the idea, granted that came out of necessity where he just couldn't get Sinatra, so he just started the interview all around him and circled all around him, and I really, I mean I fell in love with that idea and always wanted to do it with a book."

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