In “Zizou Président,” author Anne-Marie Kinney flexes literary skills as deft as Zizou’s footwork to capture the palpable energy of the World Cup without the maddening buzz of the vuvuzela. Kinney’s story, published in Black Clock 12 and free to read online, brings us back to the summer of 1998 when Zinedine Zidane led France to its ultimate World Cup victory and became a soccer legend. Though set in a specific moment and place in time, Kinney’s depiction of the raw frenzy of collective emotion that hinges on the superhuman achievements of select individuals is universal; marked by a kind of historical clairvoyance, it offers a glimpse of things to come for the next country and the next “president” to claim the championship title in July. Black Clock recently spoke with Kinney about her writing, Zizou, the World Cup, celebrity, mass culture, and naming her dog Dee Dee Ramone.
BLACK CLOCK: What inspired you to write “Zizou Président”?
ANNE-MARIE KINNEY: I’ve always found Zinedine Zidane to be compelling. Aside from the fact that his fame and influence can’t be overstated, I really see him as a poet. He transcends the game. I wouldn’t call myself a huge fan of any sport only because I’m too scatterbrained to know when games are on and get myself in front of a TV at an appointed time, but I do enjoy soccer because it’s so emotional and violent, and there was something extra with Zidane. You could see the fury inside him, in his face, and the way he channeled it into the most precise, beautiful moves. When I learned that Black Clock was seeking submissions for a sports issue, he immediately leapt to mind.
This story is sublime and so well-crafted. In a few pages, it takes a very specific person, moment in time, and place to create a tableau of humanity. How did you decide on your narrative approach to this piece? In other words, how the hell’d you do it?
I can’t say I ever decide on a narrative approach. It just happens however it happens and then I see what I’ve got. I started with my memories of being in Paris during the ’98 World Cup–which was the World Cup that really made Zidane a superstar–and just being wrapped up in the energy of it all. For the opening ceremonies, they had these four sort of giant robots that were crouched in different parts of the city, and it seemed like they were there, motionless, for the longest time, so it was so startling and also such a release to see them finally come to life on the big day. I watched it on TV and then went out, where it seemed like everyone in the whole city was in the street celebrating, and it got pretty out of hand. It was hot, hard to move, there was glass flying, cops running–it’s kind of a blur. I guess the story built itself from that peripheral blur, and the dangerous, anything-can-happen thickness in the air, and I went from there into Zidane’s head, into the quiet center. I was inspired by things he’s said in interviews, what I knew of his life, the racism he’s faced, both overt and implicit, and also the documentary Zidane: a 21st Century Portrait, which is just a match shown with him in close-up the entire time with this very intense and hypnotic music by Mogwai in the background. I wanted the story to center on loudness and quiet, and the way each feeds the other. That’s probably the most conscious narrative choice I made.
Did you write “Zizou Président” before or after the famous headbutting Materazzi incident?
I just wrote this a few months ago. At first, I thought if I was going to write about Zidane I was sort of obligated to address the 2006 incident, but I ended up being more interested in his rise, rather than what some would deem his fall, though I wouldn’t. I think he was forgiven pretty quickly. He was and is far too beloved for it to taint his legacy too much.
Perhaps because it’s still relatively fresh in my mind even a few years later, the supposed “fall” (which I agree with you in that I don’t think it’s really his fall) was the elephant in the room when I read the story. Not an annoying, crowding, why-aren’t-you-addressing-this elephant; more one that expands the story into a realm beyond the moment, making it both historical and prescient.
I wanted the Materazzi incident to be kind of hanging somewhere outside or beyond this story. When it happened, people started talking about Zidane’s history of violence, and speculating about all the possible reasons he might have done it, or what Materazzi might have said to provoke him, so those elements–his response to taunting, his quick temper–are all here in the story, waiting, suggesting where they’re going to lead. In the end, his head hurts from the two goals he scored with it, but I like to imagine that he’s also feeling the pain of what’s to come.
Have you written other work that considers the perspective of other famous individuals?
My characters tend to pay a lot of attention to pop music. I did write an as yet unpublished story about a character who worships Dee Dee Ramone. Which is only a little autobiographical.
Do you worship Dee Dee Ramone?
I don’t worship anybody, but I did name my dog after him.
What do you think makes an icon, draws us to some and not to others, generates a cult of personality?
That’s a really good question. I’m not sure I know how to answer. I think some of it is about a person having the right appeal at the right time, either socially or politically. That’s definitely a part of it with Zidane, as an Algerian-French player who became the best just as tensions were building for Arabs in France. I don’t know if I could break it down like that for every icon. I guess they wouldn’t be icons without some indefinable spark.
What are you working on these days?
I’m working on a new short story, and I have another novel sort of brewing, slowly. My first novel is currently making the rounds of publishers, so I’m just going to work every day and trying not to think about that.
And watching the World Cup?
I’m following it in the news, but the only match I’ve caught was a re-broadcast of England vs. USA. It’s tough because the matches are in the morning.
Do you have a favorite team or player? Any predictions?
I don’t have any predictions, but I can’t help but root for the home team. I’d love to see the U.S. make a respectable showing.
Anne-Marie Kinney is a writer and copy editor from Northern California. She completed her MFA in creative writing from CalArts in 2008, and her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Indiana Review, Keyhole, Satellite Fiction, as well as Black Clock. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband.
by Kyoung Kim
Assistant Managing Editor of Black Clock
