Emma Cline was in her mid-twenties when her debut novel attracted a lot of attention: "The Girls" was about a Manson family cult and a girl's life that went upside down in the heat of a California summer. A larger theme peeked out from beneath the shimmering surface: the shaping of female identity in a male world. Allegedly, Cline had received an advance of two million dollars for this - the interest in her person was correspondingly high. Then the hype took an unexpected turn. A former partner claimed Cline had copied ideas from him, threatened to post intimate photos, and hired Harvey Weinstein's lawyers. Although a court dismissed the claims as baseless, there was a grim irony in the fact that one writer,that had written so successfully about power imbalances was approached in this way, of all things. Now, almost four years later, Cline's second book is published. The stories in "Daddy" are populated by disgraced editors-in-chief, written-off directors and overreaching television chefs. Successful types who have always been in the light and are now amazed to see how much the rules of the game have changed. The few women, however, hardly come off any better - a pretty pessimistic, very good present-day tableau. Emma Cline, who seems utterly unpessimistic, joins the conversation from her living room in Silver Lake. A print by the photographer Emily Keegin hangs on the wall. It shows a thigh with a fat bruise on it.almost four years later, Cline's second book appears. The stories in "Daddy" are populated by disgraced editors-in-chief, written-off directors and overreaching television chefs. Successful types who have always been in the light and are now amazed to see how much the rules of the game have changed. The few women, however, hardly come off any better - a pretty pessimistic, very good present-day tableau. Emma Cline, who seems utterly unpessimistic, joins the conversation from her living room in Silver Lake. A print by the photographer Emily Keegin hangs on the wall. It shows a thigh with a fat bruise on it.almost four years later, Cline's second book appears. The stories in "Daddy" are populated by disgraced editors-in-chief, written-off directors and overreaching television chefs. Successful types who have always been in the light and are now amazed to see how much the rules of the game have changed. The few women, however, hardly come off any better - a pretty pessimistic, very good present-day tableau. Emma Cline, who seems utterly unpessimistic, joins the conversation from her living room in Silver Lake. A print by the photographer Emily Keegin hangs on the wall. It shows a thigh with a fat bruise on it.who were always in the light and are now amazed to see how much the rules of the game have changed. The few women, however, hardly come off any better - a pretty pessimistic, very good present-day tableau. Emma Cline, who seems utterly unpessimistic, joins the conversation from her living room in Silver Lake. A print by the photographer Emily Keegin hangs on the wall. It shows a thigh with a fat bruise on it.who were always in the light and are now amazed to see how much the rules of the game have changed. The few women, however, hardly come off any better - a pretty pessimistic, very good present-day tableau. Emma Cline, who seems utterly unpessimistic, joins the conversation from her living room in Silver Lake. A print by the photographer Emily Keegin hangs on the wall. It shows a thigh with a fat bruise on it.It shows a thigh with a fat bruise on it.It shows a thigh with a fat bruise on it.
Many of the stories in "Daddy" are about privileged men with toxic manners. Why are you taking on these contemporaries?
You have a twisted worldview, which can be very entertaining.
People who misbehave are appealing from a literary point of view.
I'm interested in power dynamics.
And there can be something very liberating about writing from the point of view of these unscrupulous guys as a young woman.
You once said that as a culture we have to constantly interpret what powerful men are thinking.
For the past four years alone, when we faced a vicious narcissist as president in the States.
The psychosis of a single person can do a lot of harm.
And in the course of the MeToo movement, we've seen entire organizations crumble because of the actions of individual men.
Then a lot of people come over and try to fix the mess.
And explain how all of this could happen.
Of course, that doesn't mean that women are categorically better people.
None of your protagonists see themselves as culprits. What's behind the tendency to lie in your own pocket?