Lori Hahnel, "Dearest Clara"

It’s December 17. Lori Hahnel, author of Vermin, has practiced her scales enough for one day.

How would you describe your story?

LORI HAHNEL: “Dearest Clara” came out of the work I’ve been doing the past few years on a novel based on the life of Clara Schumann, the 19th-century German composer and pianist.

When did you write it, and how did the writing process compare to your other work?

LH: I’ve been working on this project the last four years, though this piece itself came together in the fall of 2021. Writing about Clara Schumann has involved a good deal more research than my any of my previous fiction has.

What kind of research went into this story?

LH: I started by reading biographies of Clara and her husband, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms. I was about to go on a research trip to Germany when the pandemic came along; fortunately, I was able to go in May of this year. I watched cinematic films and documentaries, looked at scans of primary source documents, letters and photos mostly, on German library websites. I brushed up on my high-school German on Duolingo in preparation for the trip and took out a subscription to the Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall to watch performances of work by the Schumanns and Brahms.

What, to you, makes the short story a special form? What can it do that other kinds of writing can’t?

LH: A few years ago Mark Jarman wrote about not understanding why the short story is not the literary form of our times. I couldn’t agree more. A good short story can transport the reader fully into its world in the space of a few sentences. A good short story can have the conciseness and image-rich quality of a poem, while also having an impactful plot. People say they don’t have time to read, so why aren’t more of them reading short fiction?

Where should people go to learn more about you and your work?

LH: My website is www.lorihahnel.ca.

What’s the best gift you’ve ever been given?

LH: I will never forget the exhilaration I felt when I got my first library card at a Regina Public Library Bookmobile when I was seven. I felt like all the books in the world were now mine, and in a way that was true.

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