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Thomas Sanchez on <em>Mile Zero</em>: 1989 <br /> the George Murphy interview

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of Thomas Sanchez's <em>Mile Zero.</em> The epic novel unfolds in a Key West both richly imagined and uncannily accurate, where St. Cloud, Justo Tamarindo, Zobop, and El Finito are players in a late-twentieth century clash of generations, cultures, and beliefs. Hailed by <em>The New York Times</em> as &quot;a comic masterpiece,&quot; it is, together with Ernest Hemingway's <em>To Have and Have Not</em> and Thomas McGuane's <em>Panama</em>, a landmark in the literature of our island city.<br /> <br /> In 1989, as Knopf was preparing the book for press, Sanchez agreed to an interview with George Murphy, a former local mayoral candidate and editor of the excellent anthology, <em>The Key West Reader: The Best of Key West's Writers, 1830-1990.</em> Over the course of several late nights at the now-legendary Full Moon Saloon, the following conversation took shape. In the interview, originally published in <em>Island Life</em>, Sanchez discusses the origins and development of <em>Mile Zero</em>, the parallels between Key West and Cannery Row, and the concept of <em>contrabandista.</em><br />

Posted by Arlo Haskell on April 3, 2009 4:22 PM