| Authorspeak By Michelle Reale
Interview with Chitra Divakaruni
Your
work, both fiction and poetry carry the aura of myth,
memory and the importance of story telling, which compels
readers to “feel” the story beyond the text. Since the
“story” originates with you tell us about “you”: where
you come from, where you are going and what you’ve learned
along the way about writing and life.
I grew up all over India and South East Asia (My father’s
job moved him a lot), came to the U.S.A. at 19, came
to writing fairly late in life, after receiving my Ph.D
from Berkeley. Writing becomes more and more important
to me each day. It is at once a pleasure and a sacred
activity- — and I hope that my books will help people
understand and be compassionate.
One reads a bold, rather dark and spiraling narrative
in Vine of Desire. It seems rather existentialist, in
fact. This seems a departure from the tone set in Mistress
of Spices which was magical and Sister of My Heart in
which contained a bit of sweetness and light. Is this
just stylistic or does it perhaps mark a change in your
writing?
I think this style was necessary for this book. My next
book will be quite different. I do hope a more complex
vision of live comes through this book.
In between Sister of My Heart and Vine of Desire came
your book of short stories The Unknown Errors of Our
Lives, a book of compelling short stories on the more
unfortunate aspects of life that seem inevitable to
members of the human race. Had the continuation of Anju
and Sudha’s story been brewing inside of you while you
wrote the short stories? I ask because it seems to be
the same battleground in The Vine of Desire.
I think that I was look at life from a similar angle
— we often hurt each other without meaning to, how we
are driven by our choices and our desires. I think I
was mulling over Anju and Sudha’s situation, at least
towards the end of writing the story collection.
Stories, both generational and otherwise, play a big
part in the lives of your characters — women characters
that is! Is the domain of storytelling exclusive to
women in general and Indian women in particular?
No, I think stories are important for everyone, in every
culture. Some cultures just have more access to them
— the way I grew up, storytelling was a big part of
my life. My grandfather was a great storyteller. In
the story—“The Bats”, there is a grandfather character
very similar to him who heals an abused girl through
storytelling.
Anju is preoccupied with the death of her unborn child
Prem and she writes letter to her dead father. Sudha
mourns the fact that upon her fathers death his true
identity was unknown to all but herself and Sunil’s
father dies without the reconciliation that might have
made his mother happy, Death seems to be , at least
in The Vine of Desire, as important as life. Indeed
you write poignantly in the prologue: “the dead are
not irrevocably dead as long as one refuses to let them
go.” What was it about Anju, especially, that made it
easier to keep company with the dead rather than the
living?
I’m not sure; my characters are often mysterious to
me. I think it was because she could feel that her relationship
to Sunil was breaking down, and she had hoped her baby
would save her from that.
Do you feel a certain responsibility as a writer to
interpret the South Asian community to a western readership?
If so, is this because you see obstacles and boundaries
in understanding on both sides of culture? I’m not really
interpreting, I’m exploring, and mostly for myself.
Each time I write, it’s with the hope that I will learn
something — about my culture, about relationships, about
life.
After the brutal attacks of September 11, do you see
yourself as a different writer, perhaps with more of
an urgency to convey the stories within you that may
bridge gaps of understanding?
I feel that I need to portray courage and goodness in
my writing. I’m not sure exactly how I’ll do that. But
I do think that’s what people need right now. Heroes.
Role models.
And now, a question that most writers hate but one that
I feel compelled to ask: who are your influences?
So many — and they’re always changing. Right now I’m
very drawn to the Mahabharata and the writings of the
Dalai Lama and JRR Tolkien.
What comes next?
Maybe a young adult novel. I want to write something
for my boys.
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