Alex Fankuchen: Novelist in Making

English major Alex Fankuchen is approaching the writing of a novel for his senior honors thesis in a way that is exactly the opposite of what conventional wisdom tells young writers.

"You always hear: Write what you know. But I like to write about things that fascinate me that I have not experienced and probably never will experience, especially since my life, so far, is not that interesting," grins Fankuchen, who lives in southern California. "To me, the process of writing is vicarious discovery, an opportunity to research the things that intrigue me."

In this instance, what interests Fankuchen is what "imperialism does to a culture and how it transforms governmental power."

"Par Avion" tells the story of a British family emigrating from London to Hong Kong and then farther afield in the period following World War I and into World War II. Fankuchen's own insatiable "wanderlust" contributed to his decision to write about Europe and Asia, where he's traveled, and to Aden and India, where he has not yet been.

Professor Melissa Malouf helped Fankuchen obtain a new The Atlantic Coast Conference International Academic Collaborative (ACC/IAC) grant that enabled him to travel to Morocco and Gibraltar to research and flesh out his novel. "I wanted the writing to be authentic in terms of dialect and atmosphere, and the travel was so beneficial. Also, I found after the fact that I'd discovered characters flesh and blood people I'd never anticipated showing up in the book," he says.

Fankuchen, who admires the work of authors James Salter and Jonathan Safran Foer, believes his book's exploration of how the notion of "empire undercuts individual race, religion and culture amidst political subjugation" is highly relevant in 2010.

"In the novel, there's a constant crossing of borders between countries, states, religions. I hope that after reading it, people begin to understand what it means to be on the other side of different dynamics," he says. "Whenever you enter a new place or encounter a new culture or something that seems foreign, it's easy to dismiss it as different and unlike and not worth accessing. At the end of the day, the novel is not about embracing differences necessarily, but about being open-minded and aware of how those differences constitute who we are as people."

Describing writing as a "cathartic experience," Fankuchen says his Duke experience, including guidance from professors Malouf, Oscar Hijuelos and Reynolds Price, has enriched his work and his life.

"I'm a white American who grew up in a comfortable household and didn't have to worry about a lot of things," he says. "One of the joys of having gone to Duke has been meeting people from such diverse backgrounds. It is incredible how much more vibrant my life is by having them in it. Everybody benefits from being aware and willing to understand."

Fankuchen, who worked an internship at Algonquin Press in Chapel Hill, says he still has a way to go and some places to visit and people to meet before "Par Avion" is ready for publication. "I hope to complete it in the next two years, while I'm in Africa in the Peace Corps," he says.

The Connecticut native adds that he's enjoying his last days at Duke. "There is nothing more I could have asked of a college education. Duke delivered on every level. It's been so much more than the sum of the classes and the people I've met it's been every individual part."