What happens when you transplant ancient Greek mythology—replete with patricide, divine power struggles, and generational curses—to a grand plantation estate in the 20th-century American South? In his short story “Sin of the Fathers,” featured in the anthology Mother Monster, Father Fiend: An Anthology of the Monsters Who Raised Us, author William J Cagle blends classical themes with dark sitcom wit and Gabriel García Márquez-inspired magical realism. Here, William offers insight into his literary influences (from Angela Carter to Shakespeare), the hypocrisies of divine authority, writing dark humor as a release valve for tension, and how family dysfunction can spark a full-blown revolution.
Q: “Sin of the Fathers” takes some very old ideas—patricide, sibling rivalry, family curses, revenge—and drops them into a very dysfunctional family that feels almost modern. What made you want to bring these mythological themes into a more contemporary setting?
A: One of the original influences for this story was the work of Angela Carter, one of my favorite authors of short fiction (Who I later learned taught Rick Moody who taught David Hollander who was a mentor and teacher of mine at Sarah Lawrence College). Carter takes a similar approach of taking very old ideas and bringing them forward to a more contemporary setting, only with fairy tales, setting some of her stories in The Bloody Chamber in a kind of gothic 20th century world that reframes the stories and amplifies their themes and their horror, all while centering the female characters and their experiences.