In her debut novel, Trio Sonata (Southern Tier Editions/Harrington Park Press, Binghamton, NY, 2003, $14.95) Philadelphia-based
novelist Juliet Sarkessian examines the relationship between a straight woman named Janna, and the young gay male couple, Alex
and Philip, with whom she becomes involved, emotionally, spiritually and, almost, physically. The novel, a majority of which takes
place during the early 1990s, in the days before Will & Grace, presents a unique perspective on the historically close, but often
strained bond that exists between straight women and gay men. Janna's erotic fascination with Alex and Philip takes the story in an
unexpected direction, providing the kind of conflict necessary for compelling storytelling. Trio Sonata has been selected by LGBT
book club Insightout, as one of the best novels of 2002.
Gregg Shapiro: What can you tell me about the inspiration for the characters of young, gay male lovers Alex and Philip?
Juliet Sarkessian: They're not really based on anybody that I know. The inspiration for Alex came from a young man that I knew
when I was in high school who was a child prodigy. I don't remember how it came that he met my friends, because he didn't go to our
school. He was straight. He was in love with one of my female friends. But just being around him—he was unlike anybody that we'd
ever met (laughs). He didn't know anything about TV, movies, rock bands. He was living in a completely different world and was very
socially awkward. He wasn't used to being around teenagers his age who weren't also musicians. I'd say he was the inspiration for
that character. (For) Philip—you kind of get an idea about somebody and then slowly but surely pick up characteristics to give them.
There are probably little bits of him that are inspired by my brother, who is straight, and I don't think he'd appreciate that too much
(laughs). Philip's an engineer, my brother's an engineer, so some of the things about his job, I took from my brother. The main
characters are probably less inspired by real people than a lot of the secondary characters.
GS: Such as the grandparents?
JS: Right. The grandmother is inspired by and a cross between my two grandmothers, one of whom was very well-educated and
sophisticated, and the other of whom had some grade school education. Marcelo, one of Janna's college boyfriends, is almost stolen
completely from somebody that I knew in college. The plot is completely made up—none of that happened. But his personality and
the way that he speaks is completely inspired by somebody that I knew.
GS: How did the inspiration for the story come to you?
JS: I started to see these characters and hear dialogue. That's generally how I write. I'll get this image of something and start
writing. I don't feel like I sit down and make things up. I feel like the story is out there and I'm just pulling it in and I have to make sure
that I'm getting it right. Whenever I've said this to my partner Nena, she thinks I'm a complete lunatic. I've actually heard some other
writers say that and I've heard that kind of thing discussed by composers.
GS: If I'm not mistaken, I think Alice Sebold recently said something similar to that in an interview on National Public Radio.
JS: That may have been it, because I recently heard an author say that, and it wasn't the first time. With composers, there's also
this theory that the harmonies are out there, it's not that you're making it up, so to speak, as just getting it down right. I'm not talking
about modern music, which sometimes doesn't have harmonies, but more classical music—Beethoven, Mozart, etc. I've heard it said
that when you hear a piece of music and it sounds right or familiar, even though you haven't heard it before, that there's a reason for
that.
GS: I'm glad that you mentioned music, because I wanted to know if you share the same interest in music as the characters in
your novel.
JS: I love classical music, but I have no musical ability whatsoever. I did do a lot of research into classical music and the Julliard
school and a lot of other things to write the sections that are more focused on Alex and the world of classical music.
GS: The city of Philadelphia is almost as much a character in the novel as are Janna, Alex and Philip. How important was it for
you to set the novel there?
JS: I'm from Philadelphia and I live here now. I didn't while I was writing the book. In fact, I moved out of Philadelphia when I was
18 and didn't come back here until two years ago. I was out of Philadelphia for 20 years. I think, in part, that's one of the reasons why I
set it there. Nostalgia and wanting to do an homage to my hometown. There is also the recognition that an awful lot of stories have
been set in New York City and I lived there for many years.
GS: Janna's Ukrainian heritage is also an important aspect of the novel.
JS: I don't want to say that the character of Janna is inspired by this but, when I was a child, my very best friend in the world was a
Ukrainian girl. I guess the physical aspects—she had long blonde hair and what not—are incorporated into Janna in that sense.
There's a very large Ukrainian community and I did quite a bit of research into Ukrainian culture. The ethnic background of my
characters is important to me. There is the typical 'the U.S. is a melting pot' (mindset) and you have people from all different ethnic
backgrounds which are a very strong influence in people's lives. Certainly people who are Armenian and Ukrainian and from other
very close-knit ethnic groups tend to have a great influence on their lives.
GS: There is a part of the novel that takes place during the late '70s and early '80s, during which time gay and straight culture
were sniffing each other out and mingling in the days before AIDS.
JS: I wanted to explore the feeling of what it was like to be young back then. The doors were opening up, everything seemed
possible. It was the age of Studio 54. I was in New York during this time. It was very striking to me how the culture was developing
between gays and straights. That's a very interesting period anyway, because people are out there having a great time with
absolutely no idea of what's about to happen that changes everything. There have been a lot of books written about that time for that
very reason. But then a lot of my book takes place in 1990, after Janna has had a number of friends die of AIDS. You have this fallout
where she's become a different person from the one she was when she was 20 years old, because she's gone through all of this.
She's had good friends die. Life just isn't the same in 1990 as it was in 1980. That's just the reality and I think it was interesting to
contrast the two periods of time.
GS: You also present a portrait of the relationships between straight women and gay men during this time period, which is very
different than the same relationship during the days of Will & Grace.
JS: Yes, but I do think that sometimes shows like Will & Grace and other movies and TV shows that deal with gay men's
friendships with straight women seem to completely ignore the specter of AIDS. As I'm sure you know, it's never been mentioned or
alluded to on Will & Grace. There's even an episode where they decide that they're going to have a baby. Obviously, if you're going to
have a baby, you're not practicing safe sex, and there's this fantasy that nobody's thinking about it (HIV/AIDS). There's no way, at any
point from the mid-'80s on, that any straight woman is going to have any type of sexual involvement with a gay man and not think
about AIDS. ... That does affect the story (in the novel). If the part where Janna meets Alex and Philip had taken place in 1980 (instead
of 1990), I think some of the things might have been quite different.
GS: They could have become a triangle.
JS: That was probably much more likely, at least briefly. But that's really not a reasonable consideration on her part. As Janna
says at one point, 'Even if anybody had wanted me to do that, I don't think I could.'
GS: Have you started working on your next novel?
JS: Yes. ... I'm doing something that is kind of a mystery, but I'm not sure if I'm actually going to try to fit it into the mystery genre.
I'm always coming up with things that won't sell (laughs). 'How about if I do something that's not really a mystery, but is sort of a
mystery and we have a gay male lead and a lesbian lead,' so that you'll be able to sell it to everybody and nobody at all. And I also
work more than full time—I'm a lawyer.
GS: What about a movie version of Trio?
JS: My partner is involved in the film industry and she has raised the point with me. If someone is interested, I have somebody to
write the screenplay (laughs) because that's what she does. I have to say it's kind of hard for me to imagine this being a mainstream
film. On the other hand, I'm astonished they made a mainstream film out of The Hours, which is really a novel about three bisexual
women. So, I suppose that anything is possible if you manage to win a Pulitzer Prize (laughs). Right after I win the Pulitzer Prize, I'm
sure somebody will want to make a movie out of Trio Sonata.