Mr. Strasser, The Wave is now not only a modern classic, but also highly topical (again). Right-wing ideas have never been more tangible than they are today, particularly due to the rise of extreme right-wing political parties after the Second World War. Right-wing parties are enjoying electoral success, sitting in parliaments and endangering democratic value systems. In your opinion, how can young people be guided towards a critical attitude towards right-wing populism by means of the wave or in general?
To me, one crucial lesson of The Wave is about feeling and showing empathy toward those who may look, think, act, and feel differently than we do. One earmark of right-wing ideology appears to be a lack of empathy, and an intolerance toward almost anyone who is different. I would hope that any discussion of The Wave would include empathy for all human beings.
At first glance, your latest young adult novel The Good War looks like a combination of The Wave and gaming [digital storytelling in book form / digitality?] How much of The Wave is contained in The Good War?
The Good War was conceived as a companion novel to The Wave. In some respects, it is The Wave for the generations of gamers who have come after the original Wave generation.
The Wave and The Good War contain explosive political themes about the strengthening of anti-democratic powers. Where does this preference come from?
I have always believed that a preference for anti-democratic power is born from fear. Fear of those who are different and fear of the unknown. As long as the notion of personal freedom exists, there will be threats to that freedom from people who are biased and afraid.
How deep did you delve into the e-sports sector during your research?
I did quite a lot of research, including observing some actual gaming competitions.
Have you played e-games yourself for research purposes? If so, which ones?
At the time that I was researching The Good War, the various versions of Call of Duty were the most popular. So, I played some of them, though only on a very rudimentary level.
Are you a gamer in your private life or do you pursue other hobbies?
I was more of a gamer when my son was young and we played video games together. Now my online gaming is mostly confined to chess.
As you also write in your novel, young people actually know less and less about world wars, especially the Second World War. How could we counteract this development from a literary - as you do from our perspective in your novel - and non-literary point of view? Who should be held more responsible?
Can’t they be used in conjunction to support and reinforce each other? As I observe current events, I am constantly reminded of the quote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." It has been estimated that world-wide, nearly 60 million people – military and non-military – died in WW2. There are many powerful works of fiction and non-fiction that could help young people understand the horrors of war.
Have you ever been hostile because of such topics? The well-known illustrator Bianca Schaalburg was once accused of capitalizing on the Holocaust and her family's Nazi past by an individual after a reading of her multi-award-winning work The Scent of Pines, for example.
Fortunately, I have not had any experiences like that.
AI-tools can now write entire books or chapters on desired topics fed with prompts. Do you use AI in any way as part of your writing process?
I use AI almost every day for research, but I have not used it to assist in my actual writing. I find AI quite helpful for directly answering research questions that I used to have to read through multiple websites to find. I also find it helpful for finding words or phrases in description. But as a life-long writer, I enjoy the writing process and am not interested in having a machine do my writing for me, just as I would not see the point in having a machine play tennis or catch a wave for me.
Thank you very much for this insightful and open interview, Mr. Strasser! We are very much looking forward to further novels from your creative pen that flank the harsh reality.
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Porträtfoto ©Todd Strasser