 |
|
|
|
Reviews of books by some of the hottest writers working today, exclusive author interviews, literary news and criticism.
 |
|
|
|
|
Fill out your email address
to receive our newsletter!
|
|
|
|
|
 Get new reviews the instant they are posted to the site with RSS
What is RSS?
|
|
| Search Box (type in author's last name or one key word) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 The author of February Flowers talks about her first novel, her literary influences, on writing in a language which isn't her first, the conflict between old and new Chinese values that underpins the book, on the relationship between working for Yahoo and writing, on the over-commercialisation of the book market, about her agent, the new Picador Asia imprint, her next novel and more.
Interview by Magdalena Ball
Tell me about how February Flowers came about.
February Flowers is a universal coming-of-age tale in a restrained culture. When I started it, I thought I was going to write about lost friends and friendship. Moving to the United States alone, with limited language and cultural knowledge, I soon realized I had no roots and few close friends here. The nostalgia made me revisit my past, on which the story of Ming and Yan—two college girls of contrasting dispositions and personalities—was based. These two characters came to me naturally. On the surface, they’re very different, but deep down, they have a lot in common: they are misfits, they’re rebellious in their own ways, they’re genuine and independent, and most importantly, they carry both traditional values and modern values.
As the story grew, I knew there was a lot more I wanted to write. The China in the early 90’s, when I went to college, though much more open than the 80’s, was different from what it is now. Taking the attitude toward sex as an example. At that time, schools offered little sex education and dating was strictly forbidden in many middle schools and high schools. Few parents would educate their children about topics like sex and sexuality. It wasn’t uncommon for girls to get their first period without knowing what was happening to them. As for homosexuality, it was considered a perversion, a mental illness, characteristic of corrupted western capitalistic influence, and was completely unacceptable to Chinese society. (It’s still the case today) In such a restrained culture, growing into manhood and womanhood was extremely frustrating and challenging.
But sexual awakening is only part of this coming-of-age story. It’s also about moving forward while trying to reconcile with the past. The novel addresses other issues such as relationship between parents and children, the gap between the prosperous coastal cities and the isolated inland provinces, as well as forgiveness and redemption.
I feel moving to the US has contributed a lot to writing February Flowers. It gave me an opportunity to compare the Western culture and the Chinese culture, allowing me to see where I came from more clearly. A Chinese ancient poem says that a person cannot see the whole picture of a mountain while he is inside the mountain. I cannot agree more.
How long did it take you to write the book?
Three years.
Who are your literary influences?
I was more of a reader than a writer when I grew up. I read voraciously, mostly literature, which included many Chinese classics, as well as Russian and French novels. I was also a big fan of Chinese contemporary literature and the so-called Scar literature that was mainly about the sufferings during the Cultural Revolution.
Nowadays, my reading list is pretty random and I tend to read the books I like multiple times. I read in both Chinese and in English. The latest Chinese book I read is a novel called An Ordinary World, about the peasants’ life in the 70s and the 80s in China. My latest English reading is V.S Naipaul’s The Enigma of Arrival. Other writers I have read in the past few months include Truman Capote, Gao Xingjian, Kazuo Ishiguro, Turgenev, Anais Nin, and some Chinese authors.
But I don’t think I’m influenced by any particular writers at this stage of my writing. If anything, I learned how to write from reading good literature. When I read good literature, it touches me and makes me want to write well. That’s the biggest influence I’ve gotten from other writers.
Your book is mainly a Chinese one but written for a Western market. Do you feel like the book could be easily translated into Chinese and sold to a Chinese market? Will you do that?
Well, I wouldn’t say I wrote February Flowers for a Western market. When I was writing it, I only wanted to be truthful to myself and I wasn’t even thinking about getting it published. It was not until I completed it did I realize that I had to find a publisher. But if I might have considered any audience in the back of my mind while I was writing the book, it was the Chinese market. The characters in the book are very Chinese and their emotions are very Chinese, too. True, I wrote the book in English, but it was only because I wanted to learn my new language and thought writing a book in it would be helpful.
I translated February Flower into Chinese myself early this year. The process was challenging but extremely rewarding. I love the Chinese language and do think I’m a Chinese writer in many perspectives. A few Chinese publishers are interested in the book, but I don’t know how soon it will be available in China.
Talk to me about the conflict between old and new Chinese values that underpins the book.
It’s impossible to understand China’s today without knowing its past. When I grew up, I often felt the burden of the China’s long history and all its hardships. I was very eager to break free, only to realize later that I could never escape from my cultural heritage.
The conflict between old and new Chinese values in February Flowers is in every character. Let’s take Ming and Yan, the central characters, as examples. As wild and worldly as Yan appears, she supports her family that has abandoned her in a way and longs for a devoted love. And as innocent and preoccupied as Ming is, she secretly denies her parents’ expectation about herself and holds secrets that she can share with no one. Despite their craving for freedom and independence, they have to live with their parents’ pasts and their own pasts. They struggle, they rebel, they grow, they mature, that’s what they have to go through, as February flowers survive a harsh winter and bloom with amazing vitality in the spring.
The conflict of the old and the new is not just in the characters, it’s also in the landscape. The contrast between the skyscrapers and the cobble-stone alleys, between old people gathering under a spreading banyan tree to sing Cantonese opera and college students riding their bikes while talking on their cell phones.
As a writer, what interests me the most about China is what kind of impact its rapid changes in the economy, politics, culture, and society in the past few decades have had and will have on the Chinese people, both young and old, city and country dwellers. It’s more or less a question about the conflict between the old and the new values. I hope February Flowers and my other writing provide a glance into a society that is both traditional and modern.
You've said that English and Chinese are "fighting with each other" in your head. Tell me about the impact that this has on your work.
English is still a new language to me and I feel I have to try very hard to learn it. It’s unlikely that I’ll ever write in English as comfortably and confidently as I write in Chinese. But as difficult as it is to find my own voice in a new language, it also provides a new perspective and allows me to experiment.
February Flowers is my first adventure into writing creatively in English. Writing it was very challenging. At the beginning, my mind sometimes just shut off, refusing to type one more English word. It got better later, though I did write a small portion of it, maybe 5 to 10%, in Chinese to get the story going.
Writing in a second language is very daunting. It’s not just about the language itself, it’s about a mindset, a culture.
Nowadays, I write both in English and Chinese. I always feel that the English language is an enticing lover to me, while the Chinese language is a hometown boy who understands me and will never betray me.
Tell me about the interface between your day job at Yahoo and your writing. Are they sides of a coin or at odds?
My day job is a necessity to me right now, both financially and socially, but I do wish I could find more time to write and read. Having a discipline is the key. I try to write in the evening or in the early morning. When I’m out, I always have a notebook and a pen with me to write down quick thoughts.
Your work was rejected by several American agents for being too subtle and conservative, but the book is doing well, and no one has complained of the subtlety. Do you feel that the English speaking world has a misconception that entertainment needs to be racy and unsubtle for the public to buy it?
I think it’s a fact, instead of a misconception. But it has little to do with the English speaking world specifically. It is just the result from a highly commercialized market. For example, in China, where the economy is advancing at an unprecedented speed, the readership for serious literature is no better than that in the United States.
February Flowers writes about a universal coming-of-age experience, but it’s also very Chinese. The tone in the book is not decided by me, but by the characters and the society they live in. I cannot make the protagonist’ experience the same as American teenagers’ nowadays. In the beginning of the story, the younger girl’s mother says “China is not America.” She’s very right about that.
During my book tour in Australia and Asia, quite a few people asked me if I was going to write a sequel. I suppose they thought there are some lose ends in the novel. I told them, no, no sequel, but they’re more than welcome to add their own imaginations and interpretations to the book to make it their very own experience. Writing is highly subjective, so is reading.
February Flowers is the first book in the new Picador Asia imprint. How did that come about? Tell me how you came across Toby Eady.
I didn’t know about this new imprint until I met Toby, a London-based agent. I discovered his website by chance while trying to find an agent last summer, after I had been rejected by more than thirty agents in the US. He told me on the phone that he loved February Flowers and wanted to represent me. He soon found a publisher and the deal would include two books. In September, he flew me to London to meet my publisher, the upcoming Picador Asia imprint. The rights have also sold to Canada, France, and Italy.
I’m very lucky to be the first author of the new Picador Asia imprint. It’s absolutely wonderful to work with them.
What's next for Fan Wu. Tell me more about the novella, the story collection and the second novel. Do you feel pressured to produce these while the interest is still high from February Flowers?
At this point of my life I find nothing else more exciting and fulfilling than writing, so I suppose I’ll write until I cannot or don’t want to. I’ve started my second novel, which will have both China and the United States in the picture. It’s about changing and transformation, both physically and psychologically. But before I write the last sentence, I cannot say much about it. A novel is only an idea until it’s done.
As for the novella, I have been working on it on and off for more than two years. It’s narrated through a little boy, portraying the life and the people on a “reform-criminals-through-labor farm” in the post-Cultural Revolution era. I didn’t start to write short stories until 2004. I like writing short stories. They can be done a lot quicker, a good diversion from writing a novella or a novel. They’re fun to write, too. I can explore different ideas, themes and characters without worrying about failing. My first short story publication is in Granta (Granta 95: Loved Ones). The Missouri Review is publishing another story of mine this fall, which will be my first publication in the United States.
|
|
|
|
|
|
