When the fourth year student of the University of Virginia, Tyler Ruvolo, takes a break, he escapes in a fantastic world of his own manufacture.
Ruvolo, a major in economics and trade in Long Island, New York, considers economic theory and business practice as a perfect marriage.
“The economy provides the theoretical framework, it provides a reference base in an imagined world,” said Ruvolo. “Then, Commerce gives the tools to make it real. This gives you the opportunity to communicate your vision. ”
Balancing two high pressure majors, Ruvolo relaxes by plunging into a world he develops in a fantastic novel inspired in part by the works of Jrr Tolkien – a world that is not far from its current reality.
“I have a hyperactive imagination,” said Ruvolo. “I am the type of cheesy person who wants to know:” What was the tax policy? ” How was this kingdom directed? And does it make sense? When I suspend the disbelief to engage with fiction, I am looking for different things from what others do. »»
Ruvolo writes the book for himself, a book he would like to read, but his trade side calls into question if there is a market for this.
“I want the circumstances to make sense,” said Ruvolo. “It is a fictional work focused on the characters who are subject to their situation. I am very aware of the legal system, economic frameworks in which they act. It is not a superhero situation, where they can do what they want. They must act in a political and economic framework. And that, for me, is more representative of what we do as humans. ”
Aside from Tolkien, Ruvolo is inspired by RR Martin and the Russian science fiction of the Soviet era.
“Lots of Soviet science fiction is very based on reality, because the Soviet government was under the conviction that these are” children’s stuff “and that it does not need to be censored,” said Ruvolo. “You get a lot of political criticism, a lot of economic criticism. I am looking for a fiction that is more critical of the system from which it comes. ”
He is also inspired by the “death of a seller” by Arthur Miller.
“Willy Loman is a tragic character who is stuck in the past,” he said. “I think that in the more current American fiction, there is a kind of marriage to the American dream, where everything will work, but I question it. Sometimes things don’t work. ”
Ruvolo, who said he was finally coming back to the academic world, has a taste of teaching now, working as the undergraduate teaching assistant for the professor of economics Carter Doyle.