James Ellroy

Desert Island Discs: Archive 2005-2010

BBC

Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 804 Ratings

🗓️ 17 January 2010

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kirsty Young's castaway is American crime writer James Ellroy.

His books have been translated into 30 languages and, according to the New York Times, he is the author of some of the most powerful crime novels ever written.

But the case that has dominated his life and much of his writing was the murder of his mother when he was just ten years old. In the years since, he has tried to find a way of getting to know and understand her.

Record: Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 'Hammerklavier', Op. 106 Book: Libra by Don DeLillo Luxury: Sun block.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Nicola Cochlin. Young people have been making history for years, but we don't often hear about them. My brand new series on BBC Sounds sets out to put this right. In history's youngest heroes, I'll be revealing the fascinating stories of 12 young people who've played a major role in history and who've helped shape our world. Like Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela,
0:22.4	Louis Braille and Lady Jane Grey, history's youngest heroes with me, Nicola Cochlin. Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:30.4	Hello, I'm Kirsty Young. Thank you for downloading this podcast of Desert Island Discs from BBC Radio 4.
0:36.7	For rights reasons, the music choices are shorter than in the radio broadcast.
0:41.2	For more information about the programme, please visit BBC.co.com.ukes slash Radio 4. My castaway this week is the writer James Elroy, a colossus of crime fiction.
1:10.1	His bestsellers include white jazz, LA Confidential,
1:13.8	the Black Delia and American tabloid. Yet the crime that's obsessed and defined him remains unsolved.
1:20.7	His mother was murdered when he was ten. After her death, his life veered onto a new trajectory.
1:26.4	He said, I lived to read, brood, peep, stalk, skulk and fantasize.
1:33.5	There was always a voracious appetite for literature, even throughout the years of drug abuse and prison.
1:39.4	He nursed private thoughts of becoming a great author.
1:43.0	He says his mother's murder absolutely defined my life.
1:47.3	I wouldn't be what I am today without that murder. And I hope that in mercilessly exploiting it
1:52.5	with pit bull tenacity, I have honoured my mother's memory. You tell us so much in that,
1:58.7	quote James L. Roy, and you spare us nothing. Do you think people are
2:03.4	sometimes taken aback by your honesty? Pit bulls are wonderful animals that by and large like human
2:11.9	beings. And I have that kind of tenacity, but I like people. and I have the ability to exploit misfortune.
2:19.9	People are scared by pit bulls, though, maybe even though they shouldn't be.
2:23.1	It's absolutely true.
2:25.5	Do you think you're right? Do you think your mother would feel honored by what you've done?
2:29.4	Do you think she would be proud of your writing career?
2:31.9	I don't know if she would like specifically what I wrote about her because I was quite
	...

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