I took shelter from the nor'west on Saturday at Te Puna o Waiwhetū, where Megan Dunn and Claire Mabey sat down together to discuss Dunn's latest book, The Mermaid Chronicles. Author of two previous works, Tinderbox and Things I Learned At Art School, her latest book is a "quest, an odyssey, an intellectual enquiry" into the realm of mermaids, as well as a story of Dunn's own transformation as she became a mother. In a wide ranging, entertaining conversation they traversed oceans of mermaids, mothers and daughters.
Where it all began
Megan Dunn has harboured a lifelong obsession with mermaids, which has its origins in the movie Splash. Daryl Hannah in that movie represented for Megan a kind of ur-mermaid, the first really impactful images of female beauty, referencing goddess imagery and Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. So moved by the film, she promptly bought a goldfish and took a bath, hoping for mermaid-transformation. Alas, it wasn't to be, but her interest in mermaids only grew, resurfacing in works she made while at art school.
Pro Mermaid
Her curiosity led her to the world of professional mermaids, feeling a profound calling to discover how people made being mermaids a profession. Her interest in them resulted in countless Skype calls with members of mermaid communities across the world, and alongside profound insights into "becoming comfortable in liquid equanimity" through the profession, she discovered the varied ways in which professional mermaids found expression - from activist mermaids to edu-tainers for children, to mermaids who drew upon the history of post-war swim shows in creating burlesque aquatic performances.
Mothers and Mermaids
The links between mermaid and motherhood were touched upon, with Megan likening the work of being a mermaid to that of being a mother, in that it often dismissed and devalued by society. She met a merman, named Merman Jax, who spoke of how a "disenchantment with emotionless work" had led him to the merman life. Megan's interest in emotionally fulfilling work is a thread through all of her books, and reflective of an interesting symptom of our times.
Climate Change
The conversation then turned to the relationship between mermaids and the plight of the ocean in a time of climate crisis. Megan talked about how we can't think about the ocean now without thinking about climate change. Often campaigning for hope, mermaids are a bridge to thinking about our relationship with the oceans.
Gestation and Surrender
Claire Mabey then raised the "difficult gestation and birth" of this book, which took ten years of research and writing - asking what the breakthrough or surrender was that allowed the book to happen. Megan talked about how it shapeshifted along the way, and how, after all the research and conversations with mermaids it was her own story, and a family story of her partner, daughter and mother in that proved the breakthrough. She described this as putting some skin in the game, weaving in a personal story of grief, motherhood, and generational inheritance alongside the mermaids, in "drifting waves of mermaids and mundanity".
Claire and Megan closed out the hour by touching upon transhumanism, selkie myths, and the internet. The mermaid, a hybrid figure swimming between two realms, continues to fascinate in its powerful symbology, resonating with contemporary ambivalence about what it means to be human in a time of environmental degradation and disconnection.
Finally, Claire Mabey asked Megan about another of her obsessions - an abiding interest in crocodiles. Here's hoping for a swampy croc odyssey from Megan Dunn next.
You can find The Mermaid Chronicles, alongside Megan Dunn's other books, in our library collections. Dive into a world of oceanic feeling.
Things I Learned at Art School
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