| Saturday, April 28, 2007 1:06PM | | | | Kiran Desai and Vikram Chandra | Posted By: Aaron Hamburger
|
| Tags: Desai, Chandra, Donadio, Morgan Library | One of the highlights of this conversation, besides hearing from these two authors, was to get a look at Renzo Piano’s addition to the Morgan Library, which is indeed as elegant as advertised. After the conversation was finished, the museum stayed open late, so I strolled a bit and took in an exhibit of drawings by German Expressionists.
But my main purpose was to hear from these two literary stars, who did indeed sparkle. Actually, Desai was more the sparkler, interjecting witty comments and responding animatedly to the questions, while Chandra exuded more of a steady slow burn, giving methodically-paced, thoughtful answers to the questions posed to him by New York Times critic Rachel Donadio. Together, the two writers gave the audience a good glimpse into their working methods and thoughts on writing about India from the perspective of Indians who spend a good deal of time away from their country.
A disclaimer here. I have not read anything by Chandra, a self-described “software geek” who writes prodigious multi-character tomes after the fashion of nineteenth-century British novelists like Charles Dickens. After hearing him speak, I wanted to run out and buy his book, which was for sale in the lobby, but I have to admit I was daunted by its heft. I know, however, that I will someday work up the courage to read it after hearing his intriguing description of the book’s setting, the underworld of Bombay, which also includes the political world of India, which is linked to the religious hierarchy as well as the media, and ultimately the power struggles for Southeast Asia as a whole. It’s for that reason, Chandra explained, that his book became so much larger than he’d intended when he started out.
To keep track of all his characters and scenes, Chandra searched around for a software program, and finally found one, Microsoft Project, which is generally used by engineers building bridges who need to keep track of dates and people and resources. It’s an interesting idea to keep track of your choices as a writer. I’ve done something similar by outlining novels I’ve written AFTER writing them (at least first or second drafts), but Chandra’s technique sounds much more exhaustive.
Desai, on the other hand, explained that she had to feel her way through the writing of her novel The Inheritance of Loss. “I was teaching myself how to write as I wrote it,” she said. “The book was almost secondary to the process of learning to write.” After about six years of intense labor, she came up with more than fifteen hundred pages, which she trimmed down to the book’s current, more manageable size.
One of the things that inspired her to take on this multi-generational saga was when she looked at the lives of her parents and grandparents and realized how similar the struggles they faced were so similar to the ones she was facing herself. Originally Desai had wanted to write a book set outside of India, especially given the debate about writers who write about Indian when they don't live there any more. And yet she found she couldn’t avoid writing about India. “One of the surprises for me was that I feel more Indian than I thought I was.”
There are probably two things I’ll remember most from the evening. The first came from Chandra and involved his research into the world of organized crime. What surprised Chandra most about it was how similar the self-conception of these criminals was to his own. “I never met any villains during my research,” he said. Like him and like many of us, these seemingly cold-blooded violent men were trying to make sense of the world, wanted to believe they were good, wanted to take care of their families, had a sense of honor. That’s something I want to try to take with me as I write “villains” in the future.
The other thing I’ll remember is Desai's comment, when asked about why she chose to write novels at a time when the novel was dying. Her response was, “What else is there? It’s my only option.” To her, the novel is the only way to bring together the emotional terrain she’s interested in. “Fiction is more important now than ever. The novel’s been dying forever. I don’t believe it anymore.”
Two cheers for Desai. Let’s hope she’s right, though given the woeful state of the book business in America, I sometimes have my doubts.
| | | |
| | |
|
