J. Carroll
asked
Amor Towles:
A Gentleman in Moscow is a delight. You have some wonderfully engaging characters in this story. I especially enjoy the scene in which Emile lends his chopper to Andre for the juggling performance. One of the things I appreciate most is the voice of the narration. It reminds me of Turgenev's unnamed sportsman in A Sportsman's Notebook. Did you in fact live at the Metropol while writing this?
Amor Towles
Dear Mr. Carroll,
When I visited Moscow for the first time in 1998, I wandered into the historic Metropol Hotel as a curious tourist simply to take a glance at the giant painted glass ceiling that hangs over the grand restaurant off the lobby. It was the memory of that short visit which prompted me, some years later, to set my book in the hotel. When I set out to write the book, I decided I wouldn't return to the hotel until I was at least two-thirds of the way into my first draft. Why? I didn't want the reality of the hotel to interfere with my imagining it.
When I was about two-thirds done, I returned to Moscow and spent a week at the Metropol in Suite 217—the very room in which the first Soviet constitution was drafted in the aftermath of the Revolution. At that point, I also began researching first hand accounts of the life in the hotel (which you can find in The Metropol section at amortowles.com). I had some sense of trepidation as I began that research, fearing the hotel in history would fall far short of the hotel in my tale. What I learned firsthand and from that research was that the life of the hotel was even more extraordinary than I had imagined.
Best,
Amor
When I visited Moscow for the first time in 1998, I wandered into the historic Metropol Hotel as a curious tourist simply to take a glance at the giant painted glass ceiling that hangs over the grand restaurant off the lobby. It was the memory of that short visit which prompted me, some years later, to set my book in the hotel. When I set out to write the book, I decided I wouldn't return to the hotel until I was at least two-thirds of the way into my first draft. Why? I didn't want the reality of the hotel to interfere with my imagining it.
When I was about two-thirds done, I returned to Moscow and spent a week at the Metropol in Suite 217—the very room in which the first Soviet constitution was drafted in the aftermath of the Revolution. At that point, I also began researching first hand accounts of the life in the hotel (which you can find in The Metropol section at amortowles.com). I had some sense of trepidation as I began that research, fearing the hotel in history would fall far short of the hotel in my tale. What I learned firsthand and from that research was that the life of the hotel was even more extraordinary than I had imagined.
Best,
Amor
More Answered Questions
Cynthia Shannon
asked
Amor Towles:
You mentioned how the grand hotels of the 20th century played a role in how the elite traveled, and how the hotels all look and felt the same on purpose. Today though, many people are preferring to stay in AirBnBs. Do you think there's a future for the grand hotels, or do you think they'll all convert to condos, like the Waldorf in New York?
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