The Puget News interviews Ryan Boudinot, author of “The Littlest Hitler”
Posted in Books, Interviews on November 8th, 2006 by Eric Franklin“The Puget News” is proud to introduce our first author interview! Ryan Boudinot, author of “The Littlest Hitler” was gracious enough to talk about his darkly comical collection of short stories, channel a little Yoda, and tell me which dead people he’d like to kick it with.
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As am I. As am I.
* Why did you choose “The Littlest Hitler” as the headlining story for this collection? Was it purely for shock value or was there something you felt that story embodied which encompassed the other stories in the collection?
There were two reasons. One, I felt like it had earned the title. “The Littlest Hitler” is the last story I wrote when I was finishing my MFA at Bennington College. I remember feeling like it was my reward from the muses for working hard for two years, and that the story would somehow take care of me. It’s the oldest story in the collection.
Second, it’s the most widely-published story in the collection. High school debate team kids recite it in tournaments. It’s been translated into Italian and published in Italy. A drama club in Seattle staged a great version of it. So in a purely pragmatic way, it made sense to title the whole book after a story that’s more recognized than the others.