For Dr. Jeff Schnader (MDCM鈥�79), a career spent running an intensive care unit and being a full professor of medicine鈥攏ot to mention a parent鈥攚as never quite enough to make him forget a defining period of his youth, and his desire to write about it.听听
In a sense, then, The Serpent Papers, the newly published debut novel inspired by Schnader鈥檚 experience as an undergraduate at Columbia University at the height of the anti-Vietnam War protest movement of the early 1970s, spent decades in incubation.听听
鈥淚 have been haunted for 50 years about the war,鈥� said Schnader, a Virginia resident. 鈥淎nd I can see [from the response to The Serpent Papers on social media] that many people of my generation feel the same. People are still very involved in their heads with it. What it boils down to is, that the Vietnam War created a rift within my generation, and the book is a way of addressing that rift.鈥澨�
While what happened on the Columbia campus in 1971-72 hasn鈥檛 entered popular mythology as much as some other episodes of the anti-war movement鈥攏ot least the student occupation at Columbia four years earlier鈥攊t was an all-consuming thing for those who participated.听
鈥淚 kept asking myself and other people, 鈥榃hy can鈥檛 I find any literature on this? Why hasn鈥檛 this story been written?'鈥� Schnader said.听
In The Serpent Papers, the division Schnader refers to plays out on a grand scale, but also within a single family, giving the novel both an admirable emotional heft and an illuminating social sweep vividly evocative of its time and place. The focal point is J-Bee, who rebels against his upbringing in a Southern military family to forsake the war and instead go to university, where he gets swept up in what Schnader describes as 鈥渁 cauldron of anti-war culture and protest.鈥澨�
Acknowledging the plentitude of American cultural responses to the Vietnam War, Schnader nonetheless sensed that something fundamental was missing.听
鈥淲hat has been lacking is a rapprochement, a coming together of the two ends of the Vietnam-era spectrum stateside鈥攖hose who were for the war, and those who were against it. I don鈥檛 feel that that rift has been healed.鈥澨�
When fiction writing was still distant, though, Schnader had another life landmark to live. In 1975, on attaining his undergraduate degree, he went straight from New York to study medicine in Montreal. He has fond memories of his time at 平特五不中.听
鈥淎s it happened, we had five or six Americans in a class of 140. I felt so privileged. My experience at 平特五不中 was very hard, because medical school at 平特五不中 was very hard. But it was a wonderful place to learn. I have a million stories about Montreal, about my American rawness while trying to mix with my Canadian counterparts.鈥澨�
Eventually, concerned that time was becoming an issue, Schnader began work on the long-gestating novel, writing essentially from memory. That was 15 years ago鈥攁s is often the case with these things, it took considerably longer than planned.听
Having retired two years ago, the better to focus on completing The Serpent Papers and getting up to speed with the niceties of the publishing industry (鈥淎ll those things I was very naive about,鈥� he said), Schnader now finds himself firmly possessed by the writing impulse and is looking at a variety of possible outlets. For example, might he follow some of the novel鈥檚 characters forward in time, to show where life took them after their turbulent youth? 听
鈥淎 number of people have said they would want a sequel,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd I do have an idea for one. But at this point I鈥檓 200 pages into two different books, one of which is about a playwright in Tudor England under Elizabeth I鈥檚 reign.鈥澨�
So, no lack of ideas, then?听
鈥淣o. It鈥檚 a passion I have, and writing is about passion.鈥澨�
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Dr. Graham Elder knows 平特五不中 well. The Montreal native has no fewer than three degrees from the institution, in Physiotherapy, Medicine, and Orthopaedic Surgery: BSc(PT)鈥�88, MDCM鈥�95, PGME鈥�00. But for a long time, there was another itch he wanted to scratch, one that was related to, but fundamentally different from, his formal training and career track. 听 听
鈥淚鈥檇 been publishing scientific articles for years,鈥� Elder said from his home in Sault Ste-Marie, Ontario, where he maintains a busy surgical and academic practice. He was responding to a question about his relationship with writing鈥攌nowing, of course, that we were talking about another kind of writing altogether. 鈥淎t some point around my mid-forties, in my spare time, I started writing children鈥檚 books, basically bedtime stories that I turned into short novels for my kids. Then, about six years ago, a friend鈥攚ho I originally met over a cadaver at med school鈥攕uggested we write together regularly.鈥澨�
That two-person writing group proved a fine motivator, leading to a blog () and instilling a regular set of goals and general project-oriented thinking. In 2020, early in the first lockdown stage of the pandemic, Elder took advantage of a 10-week period of COVID-enforced shutdown to begin work on what became, in June of that same year, the novella First Wave: A COVID Odyssey. A follow-up, the longer Second Wave: A COVID Odyssey, appeared in April 2021. 听 听听
For Elder, time was of the essence with these projects. 鈥淚 wanted to have (the two books) out while the pandemic was happening,鈥� he said. There was also a spell spent learning the ins and outs of self-publishing (鈥淣ot such an easy thing, it turns out鈥�) before he was able to meet his goal of producing works that would have the immediacy that comes with a subject still current and urgent.听
Both books have their launch point in circumstances from Elder鈥檚 COVID-period life, starting with the fact that his wife happened to be in the US when the virus broke out. In both books, the real-life seed quickly leads to taut, race-against-time narratives, with the virus being the ultimate enemy. Short but packed with incident, the novella and novel are not medical thrillers, per se, more like thrillers set against a COVID backdrop, and they achieve the considerable trick of providing entertainment value without shortchanging the gravity of their subject.听
Having self-published two manuscripts and prepared for the publication of another volume to complete the trilogy, Elder is now looking to place another finished manuscript with a commercial publisher, every stage of which requires a willingness to take the long view. Crucially, though, he finds the whole experience enjoyable鈥攖he writing and, to an admittedly lesser degree, the admin.听
鈥淎fter being so immersed in medical science for such a long time, it鈥檚 been great to have something to open up the other side of my brain. The creative part. It鈥檚 been relaxing but challenging. A big part of me wants to see all this as a nice transition into retirement.鈥澨�
And when might retirement be?听
鈥淥h, at least 10 years from now, I鈥檇 say.鈥澨�
Meanwhile, Elder said, he sometimes finds himself reflecting on his writing journey of the past six years.听
鈥淚t feels like I鈥檝e come a long way,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 always more to learn.鈥澨�
Ian 平特五不中is writes about books and visual arts for the Montreal Gazette.
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