| ashu |
Posted
on 15-Oct-01 02:54 AM
Hi all,
Glad to be back here after a hectic week-end in Kathmandu. Last Saturday's hike from Panauti to Bhaktapur by way of Kushadevi and the stunningly beautiful 'hanging valley' . . . it's a hike I recommend to you all.
On another note, the Indian Embassy is to be thanked for inviting some of the most promising young classical musicians from India to play for three evenings
of Indian classical music (flute, sitar and vocal) at Hotel Malla since the last Saturday night. Tabla-master Abhijit Banerjee on his instrument was amazing.
Contrary to what some Nepalis believe in the US, there IS much to do in Kathmandu . . . and, now, with Dassain festivities in the air, it's time to
look forward -- assuming you are not a vegetarian -- to the kebabs, the barbecues, the sekuwas and the bhutans and all the rest.
All these to inform you all God and goodliness are alive and well in Kathmandu.
So, dig right into this interview with Samrat that came out in yesterday's
The Kathmandu Post Review of Books.
Enjoy,
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
*************************************
Returning Home in Stories
Samrat Upadhyay's first collection of short stories, Arresting God in
Kathmandu, has been widely reviewed in the mainstream American press.
Here are the excerpts of an email interview with Upadhyay done by Kantipur
journalist Rama Parajuli.
*****
Why have you chosen Kathmandu as the setting for your stories? Why
haven't you based your stories in the US where you have lived for many years?
I have chosen the middle class setting of Kathmandu because that's
the world I am most familiar with. Somehow in my writing I keep wanting to go
back to Nepal, specifically to Kathmandu. One writer has suggested that the
place where we grow up has a hold on us that'll haunt us for the rest of
our lives.
I've discovered this to be true. I haven't been able to write
about America because the landscape, despite my years of living in it,
still hasn't seeped into my blood, as Nepal has. Besides, I feel that I
know the psychology of Nepali people much better than I do of Americans.
****
How did you come up with the title of your book?
I was searching for a title that would weave together all the stories
and give it a sense of thematic unity. As I was revising the story,
"During the Festival," I reread the portion on the genesis of Indrajatra
festival, and I thought there was something there, about how people trap themselves by their own disillusion, and the rest was a matter of playing around with the words.
In the end, I liked the subtle alliterations in the title, the
repetitions of "t"s and "d" in "Arresting God in Kathmandu."
****
When did you write the stories collected in this book? Where were
theypublished earlier?
The stories in here are a product of ten years of writing. The first
full story I wrote, "The Man with Long Hair" is also included. I started
writing seriously when I was in the creative writing program at Ohio
University, and I continued writing while I worked for a year in Saudi Arabia. In
between, I was in Nepal for two years, but I was mostly doing journalistic
writing at that time.
Most of the stories were published in literary journals in
the U.S. such as Manoa, North Dakota Quarterly, Indiana Review, Green
Mountains Review, Tampa Review, and Confrontation; a couple have also appeared in anthologies such as Best of the Fiction Workshops and Stories in
the Stepmother Tongue.
*****
How did you find your publisher?
Actually, I was lucky in finding a publisher for this collection
because publishers are not keen on story collections from first-time authors;
they'd rather publish a novel. I had written two novels, which I'd sent
around to several publishers and literary agents, and almost all of them had
rejected them.
Some said the novels were too slow; others said there was no
market for the particular theme I was writing on. Most seemed to imply that
my writing was too "literary," as opposed to commercial, I imagine. Some
did have nice things to say about them. One literary agent in particular
seemed very interested in the beginning, but then at the end she said that
my writing was too "dark" to find a proper market.
Then one of my stories got published in The Best American Short
Stories of 1999, and Houghton Mifflin, which is the publisher of the BASS
series, wrote me a letter, saying that they liked my story in there and wanted to
see more of my work. I put together the stories I had and sent them the
manuscript, telling my wife Babita that here's another one that'll be rejected.
Within a month, editor Heidi Pitlor called me and said they wanted to publish
the collection.
**********
What kind of editorial assistance did you get from your publisher?
My editor was very professional. She sent me her feedback on the
manuscript within a few months. Her suggestions for revision had to do more with
the focus of the stories, to clarify the themes. I worked on her
suggestions, send them back to her.
Then she edited it once more, this time working more with language--addition, deletion. At this point, for the sake of variety, I wanted to add a story from an old man's point of view, and I wrote "The Limping Bride," which is the only story written purposely for the collection. Then the manuscript went through a copyediting process, and it was done. I'd say it took about a year and a half between the time I send them the manuscript and when it was sent to the printers.
*********
It is often said that Nepali writers seldom edit their creative
writings. Do you revise your stories?
I tend to revise my stories obsessively. Often, the first draft
merely hints at the possibility of a story, and I find myself chucking out a large
portion of the first draft and sticking with some images or paragraphs that have some energy.
My stories usually tend to go through at least four-five revisions before I send them out to literary journals. In between, my wife looks at them and offers critique. In the case of the stories in "Arresting," the stories went through revision even after they were already published in literary journals. Even the story that appeared in Best American Short Stories went through one more revision before in was included in the book.
I can't recall which story went through the most
revision, but I struggled with the ending of "The Good Shopkeeper" numerous times, switching back and forth between one ending and another. So I worked
on several endings for that story before I settled on one, and even that
I wasn't sure after the story got published. All in all, I am a revision
freak, and I teach my students to be revision freaks.
*************
Do you read much Nepali literature? What literary writings have
influenced the writer in you?
I try to read Nepali literature when I can, what I can get hold of
here in the US, sometimes books passed on by friends; at other times finding
something in the library.
I think what I learned from my work on Manoa is that there is a great deal of energy in Nepali literature, especially in dealing with social issues. Still, in some writers I found a reluctance to move beyond the usual kind of sentimental and flaccid writing often found in national anthems and songs praising Sagarmatha or Nepal Amako Kakh or whatever.
I also found many authors whose writing I admired, and even
envied. Shyamal's poetry, for example, I think is an example of how
social/political commentary can be made compellingly without
sacrificing craft. Mohan Koirala is also very endearing for his irreverent poems.
Among the fiction I have read, Rajav's short stories I found to be
extremely effective in their compression. Several others: Dhruba Sapkota,
Naryan Dhakal, Peter Karthak, Maya Thakuri.
Among non-Nepali writers, I have been influenced by too many to
mention, but some Indian writers have paved the way, certainly: Anita Desai,
Amitav Ghosh, Rohinton Mistry. Of the world writers: William Trevor, Tobias
Wolff, Sherman Alexie, Pablo Neruda, Flannery O'Connor, Gabrial Garcia
Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges. Too many to list, really.
****
Did English writing lessons you received at St Xavier's Kathmandu
help you become a writer?
I am gravely indebted to the Jesuits at St. Xavier's for giving me
the fundamental skills in writing. I still remember how Fr. James
Donnelly hammered English grammar into our heads in one of the upper-lever
classes, and that training has stayed with me.
Then, later on, Fr. Eugene Watrin in tenth grade helped me hone finer skills of composition, which has carried over to my creative writing. Overall the Jesuit education in English in Nepal during my time was better than the equivalent you get now in many American high schools. Whenever I see my students' writing here, I feel a tremendous gratitude towards my teachers at Xavier's for giving me
something, in high school, my current students are still struggling
to learn in college.
**********
What did you study in the US? Apart from writing, what do you do at
the moment?
I first came to the US as a student. I had intentions of studying
business, but got bored after a semester and quickly turned my attention to
English. I 've done every type of job you can imagine while I was a poor
student, from washing dishes in the college cafeteria to working as a carpenter.
I got my undergraduate degree from The College of Wooster, a master's from
Ohio University, and a Ph. D. from University of Hawaii, all in English.
Now I teach writing and literature at Baldwin-Wallace College in a suburb
of Cleveland. I usually get up very early in the morning, sometimes as
early as four, to write.
******
Do you intend to return to Nepal?
Yes, I do intend to return to Nepal eventually. Right now I am just
at the beginning of my career as a teacher and a writer, and am enjoying the
vibrant literary culture that exists in the US.
Americans look toward writers to give them insights into the human condition, and there's admiration and encouragement for the work writers do. You can't
imagine how many strangers from across the country have written to me after they read my book, telling me how much they enjoyed my writing and how they look forward to my next book. I think once I become more established, and once my body starts aching badly, to the point of intolerance, for the sights and
sounds of Kathmandu, I'll return.
THE END
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