Marilyn, Maf and me

Written by Fiona Gibson | 19 July 2010

Telling the story of Marilyn Monroe’s dog in his own words was an interesting challenge for acclaimed author Andrew O’Hagan.

Whenever Andrew O’Hagan is quoted as saying that there weren’t any books in his childhood home, his father is quick to correct him. “He says it’s not true – we had the phonebook,” says the Glasgow-born novelist who grew up in Ayrshire. There was another book too: a biography of Marilyn Monroe.

To the young, hungry-eyed O’Hagan, she was “a modern myth, a fairy story,  a woman from a poor background who was magically transformed. She was a manifestation of post-war optimism, and I was completely beguiled by her.” It’s fitting, then, that his latest novel is entitled The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of his friend, Marilyn Monroe.

Mafia Honey, or Maf, was the Maltese terrier given to Marilyn by Frank Sinatra. O’Hagan has made Maf his story’s wry and witty narrator, absorbing every detail as he accompanies his beloved mistress everywhere during the last two years of her life.

“Although it’s a dog, in some ways the voice of Maf is the closest I’ve come to writing in my own voice,” O’Hagan says. “At the oddest moments –  like seeing turnips in the supermarket – I’d find myself thinking, what would Maf make of that?

“Writing it was a lovely experience. The research I’d gathered over ten years took me all over the world, including the absurd highways and byways of Hollywood –  it was important to make it factually correct. For instance, when I was writing a scene where Marilyn and Maf attend a literary party in New York, I was compelled to read the biographies of everyone I possibly could who had attended that party.” He pauses and laughs. “At some points I did worry that the whole project would blow up in my face, and that I’d turned into this insane person. But any writer has to keep the faith. I told myself that, if I was going mad, then at least I was in good company.”

O’Hagan’s knack of seamlessly blending fact and fiction was pulled off with aplomb in his second novel, Personality, which was loosely based on the tragic life of child star Lena Zavaroni. He says he has always had a fierce desire to write: “I was born a storyteller and was quite unstoppable. As a young socialist I’d fire off letters
to the Red Clydesiders asking if I could interview them.”

Born in 1968, one of four brothers, O’Hagan was raised mainly by his mother who worked as a cleaner (his father was often absent). His debut novel, Our Fathers, was nominated for the Booker prize. As for Maf, who lived at the White House during the Kennedy era after Marilyn’s death – with the movie rights already sold, surely he is begging for a sequel?

“Maf is only three at the end of the book, which is young, even in dog years,” he says. “There’s so much liveliness and human spirit there that  I think there’s another story to be told. I’ll need to wait a few years though, to de-doggify myself.” His six year-old daughter, from his relationship with author and journalist India Knight, is keen for him to continue the canine theme. “I’m sure it’ll happen,” he says. “In some part at the back of my brain, there’s still a little dog basket for Maf.”

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