PW: Why did you write Goat?

Brad Land: After the assault [in which I was robbed, beaten and abducted] in the fall of 1995, I was fixated by violence. I tried to write about the initial incident in the book but what I wrote read fake. Maybe I wasn't ready to address it honestly. I wanted to talk about violence committed against men in its many forms and what it can do to you.

PW: What did the violent incident that leads off the book do to you?

BL: I've lived with the memory of this every single day since [it happened]. I'd be scared to be in the world, to live in a normal way. There were times when I was incapacitated by it, always on guard. I couldn't address it in a healthy way for a long time.

PW: Are there parallels between the horrific incident of your assault and the humiliating hazing rites of the fraternity in your book? Should hazing be abolished?

BL: Yes, there are parallels between sanctioned violence such as the hazing and random violence such as my assault. You may ask yourself, which is worse, but they are the same thing. I think abolishing hazing would not be a bad thing. The violence in sports, with its physical contact and exhilaration, is not a negative thing. I played sports and enjoyed them. The violence that bothers me is when those in power exploit their position to humiliate someone.

PW: Your relationship with your younger brother, Brett, is a key element of the book. You love him deeply despite his selfishness and constant betrayal of you. How can you write so honestly about that relationship yet seem so nonjudgmental about his character?

BL: Brett did, and still does, play the role of older brother with me, although he is younger. He was the cool, confident one who knew what he was doing. I was the quirky, smart one. I admired him because he did things I couldn't do. Yet there were some painful things, and he would hurt me over and over, but I got used to it. Now he's my biggest fan. Our relationship gets better as we get older.

PW: Did the death of Will, your friend and fellow pledge, during the hazing process trigger you to walk away from the fraternity?

BL: His death was the turning point for me because it gave me permission to say this is not the place for me. In the past, I felt like I was the guy who ran away from things. Also, my decision to walk away came after an accumulation of events and the trauma of his death. I was young, and this was a very difficult thing to handle.

PW: Do you think fraternities should be outlawed?

BL: No. As a young teenager, most people feel isolated, awkward and long to belong. They don't know how to say no. Fraternities are almost impossible to resist. I remember a college friend whose parents sent him flowers and a card when he got a bid to join a fraternity. For many teens, joining a fraternity is expected and rewarded.

PW: Who are some of your writing influences?

BL: My favorite book is Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son. Some people call him a minimalist, but I find his work to be jarring in its immediacy. I'm a big fan of Dave Eggers and Rick Moody. They showed me that memoirs can be written in a number of ways. I also find the writers interesting who do what I call "immersion journalism," where they bring a reporter's eye to different kinds of experiences. Some of them are Susan Orlean, John McPhee, Joseph Mitchell and Ted Conover.

PW: Will the theme of violence, so prominent here, find its way into your future work?

BL: Violence and my opposition to it, due to my personal history, is still a big part of my writing. I don't want to write the same book over and over, but I think it's such a big part of myself that it will probably be incorporated into other themes in my future work.