On books, reading and writing

Prajwal Parajuly is a Nepali-speaking Indian author whose works are centered on Nepali culture. He is the author of acclaimed books: The Gurkha’s Daughter and Land Where I Flee. Also a judge of Dylan Thomas Prize 2018 and 2023, Parajuly is currently in Nepal for the launch and reception of Chitralekhako Chaurasi, the Nepali translation of Land Where I Flee. Ken Subedi talked with him about his affinity for books and the current literature scene of Nepal.

What are some of your favorite books? 

I have many favorites. The favorites also keep changing. I have thoroughly enjoyed everything Anuradha Roy has written. I just re-read Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Marriage Plot and thought it was extraordinary. It’s a campus novel I wish I had written. Yiyun Li’s short stories are incredible. I also revisit the classics: I just finished reading A Tale of Two Cities and Persuasion. I will be that cliched Indian writer and mention Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things and Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies. Smriti Ravindra’s The Woman who Climbed Trees floored me. A childhood book I revisit is The Family at Red Roofs by Enid Blyton. What I read is often inspired by how I am feeling. Do I want to be completely immersed in a new world, or am I pressed for time and want to read in snatches? I often read short stories in the bathroom—read one, finish your business, and you’re done. Read another story the next day.

I am a slow reader. I have to read every word, every sentence. I don’t want to miss a single comma. I often find myself re-reading sentences. It can be exasperating.

How has reading books shaped your career as an author?

Every writer starts off as a reader. I had great English teachers in school. Everyone read at home and at school. I wouldn’t say I read a variety of books when I was young, but what I liked, I read and re-read. In seventh grade, I took it upon myself to memorize George Orwell’s Animal Farm. To this day, I can recite passages from the book. When you read in that intense a way as a child, and when the book is that well written, you’re bound to pick something up.

Why do you think only a handful of writers from Nepal are able to produce fiction in English? Why is Nepal’s representation in English fiction nowhere/negligible?

I think there’s extraordinary work coming out of Nepal. Look at Rabi Thapa, Shraddha Ghale, Prawin Adhikari, Sushma Joshi and Muna Gurung. I know I am forgetting a few other good writers. Have you read Smriti Ravindra? You absolutely must. Of course, I need not mention Manjushree Thapa’s output and versatility. To say that only a handful of writers are producing fiction in English here is to misrepresent facts. Compare the number of writers who write in English to the population of the country. Compare the number of writers to the number of English speakers in the country. I see the representation only increasing. I read the most recent issue of La.lit on holiday in Austria, and I was impressed.

How often do you follow Nepali literature? Can you recommend a few Nepali fiction books that you believe deserve translation into English?

I should do better. I make promises to myself about reading more Nepali books, and I start off rather enthusiastically, but life catches up. I think everything Narayan Wagle writes should be translated into many languages. Sanu Lama deserves to be widely translated. You are aware of the many Nepali-language books being translated into English. Take Chudin Kabimo’s Fatsung, translated as Song of the Soil, by Ajit Baral. Or Lekhnath Chhetri’s Falungey, translated as Fruits of the Barren Tree by Anurag Basnet.

In your opinion, why do some successful authors stop writing a new book after their few successful ventures?

There could be many reasons. Some writers evolve as writers between their first and latter books—nothing you write seems good enough. Others perhaps don’t feel the need to write. Success can be a double-edged sword. It’s easy to get carried away by the adulation around you—writing requires so much discipline. It’s never easy.

Why do you think the writing style of Indian authors writing in English, particularly so-called high-brow literature, is dense? Is it a strategy of postcolonial ‘writing back’?

Is it? I think the vast majority of literary fiction produced by Indian writers in English is accessible. The one dense book I can think of published in recent years is Geetanjali Shree’s Ret Samedhi, translated into English by Daisy Rockwell as Tomb of Sands.

Parajuly’s PICKS

The Marriage Plot By Jeffrey Eugenides

I love this book because it is the great campus novel I wish I had written.

 

The Woman Who Climbed Trees By Smriti Ravindra

The great Nepali novel. The words sing. The characters stay with you forever.

 

The Family At Red Roofs By Enid Blyton

Written by English author Enid Blyton, the book is a family saga I never tire of revisiting.