Michael Seabaugh, whose name you may recognize from his many years as a columnist for the Independent, is a clinical psychologist practicing in Santa Barbara. He is also the author of two novels, The Cure for Love and his latest, Gwendolyn & Eddie, the story of a 1950s housewife whose husband brings home an alcoholic monkey he wins in a card game, unaware he’s about to change all of their lives forever. Seabaugh and I recently spoke about his latest creative endeavor.
In your new novel, Gwendolyn & Eddie, Gwendolyn is a woman who, when the story opens in 1957, is very much what we would now call a “trad wife.” Eddie is an alcoholic monkey that her husband has won in a poker game. It’s a pretty catchy premise. How did you come up with it?
I actually grew up with a monkey and a quintessentially “trad wife” as a mother. The setup you mention actually happened in my childhood. When my mother died at 98, after I delivered her eulogy where I actually mentioned Eddie, I was left with a nagging question: Why did she make the choices she did in her long life, specifically to remain in a complex but ultimately dysfunctional marriage? And a wild monkey trapped in enforced domesticity seemed to promise rich metaphorical as well as humorous opportunities.
It can be tricky depicting a human/non-human relationship. What were some of the challenges you faced in making a monkey a central character in your novel?
I had a choice, to go a bit out there and give Eddie a conscious voice. That’s worked well in some other novels, like Lessons in Chemistry, but I decided to respect Eddie for what he was: a rascally, wild animal who didn’t speak English. I found it more moving to have him be a silent witness to her travails, evolving into her most trusted companion and, in the end, her ultimate solace. And, as monkeys do, he did add some fun.
Gwendolyn & Eddie moves through four decades. That’s a lot of narrative ground to cover. What are the big ideas you hope your readers will take away from Gwendolyn’s character arc?
I’ve always been fascinated by the ‘50s through the ‘80s, not only because I lived through those years myself, but because of the incredible societal changes that those times authored. Gwendolyn was an essentially conservative woman, not only politically, but in her nature. How would she deal with the issues of the day that came knocking on her door — racism, homophobia, traditional masculinity, the sexual revolution, and the struggle for women’s rights? Will she liberate herself from her golden cage? Will Eddie, from his not-so-golden cage? After all, this story is essentially about the cages we are born into, the ones we create for ourselves, and those that we impose upon others.
You’ve been a psychologist for many years. What insights have you brought from your practice to your work as a writer of fiction?
An abiding interest in the complex stories of human struggle, conflict, and redemption has always guided my professional endeavors. I’ve obviously gained a lot of material from the years of sitting in my therapist chair, but I have always had a distaste for self-help books — too reductive and disrespectful to the complexity of the human experience! I find the artifice of fiction a much richer way of exploring what it is to be human, for as Picasso said, “Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.”
Gwendolyn & Eddie will have a public launch event at Santa Barbara Fine Art Gallery (1321 State St.), Thursday, April 3, at 5 p.m.
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