Artist	Sally O'Reilly
Date	July 2011
Location	Pubs in Ramsgate, Canterbury and Reculver (see blog for details)
Category	Literature

I am writing a novel about a jaded art critic who discovers that art is a force for evil. Realising she must break from the art world before she is absorbed by it entirely, she tries to think of the furthest possible point, culturally speaking, and decides that it is oil. Whereas art is singular, oil is homogenous and all-pervasive; and where art generates nuanced critical discourse, oil tends to provoke binary rucks. She applies for various jobs ‘in oil’ but has no transferable skills, and so decides to write a book about the subject instead, settling on the thriller as her genre.

Such a political hot potato as oil is routinely misrepresented and misunderstood, and so the critic must learn rapidly about the subject from the inside, chasing experiences and knowledge that few are party to. In the realm of the novel the storyline is sketched only loosely, and the plot changes as new experiences and knowledge are assimilated. This will be a direct representation of the leads, insights and visits that result from the Baton residency. In short, findings from interviews with the public will enter the realm of fiction and influence the course of the novel, as well as the novel within the novel.

The structure of the book is partly an homage to Moby Dick, where Melville includes chapters on trade routes, whalers’ tools, the uses of blubber and other such factual matters so that we are then well equipped to follow the chase scene in all its detail. Similarly, here, once we have understood the various facets of the subject in hand, we should be able to grasp the thrilling denouement. This is thwarted, though, by a thriller-like twist, as the drama concludes at an internal, thoughtful level rather than in an action-packed chase scene. The quarry in this case is not the murderer, the lover or the jewels – it is knowledge and understanding itself.