I had the good fortune to be introduced to Jai Chakrabarti by my writer friend Amy Gottlieb, who correctly suspected that I’d love Jai’s work. His debut novel, A Play for the End of the World, got under my skin and stayed there, in the best way. His new story collection, A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness, out today, is set in India and America, exploring themes of deracination, family, and language. Together, the stories fill out a sparkling constellation.
I talked with Jai about his writing practice, South Asian literature, and the immigrant experience.
Martha Anne Toll: How did these short stories come to be, and how did you decide how to order them in the collection?
Jai Chakrabarti: The overarching theme for the collection is how we grow with our birth families but also how we adopt new ones. As I was writing these stories, I was at first struggling to become a new parent; my partner and I suffered through several miscarriages until finally our son was born. Then, as all parents know, our reality shifted: I wanted to speak to both the yearning as well as the sacrifices and joys of being a parent. So, I looked for stories that spoke to these themes and experiences. I also wanted the stories to be diverse in terms of narrative voice as well as length.
My thoughts on ordering story collections likely come from reading and, once upon a time, ordering my own poetry collections. I enjoy when one story transitions to another by illuminating another part of the conversation that the previous story alluded to but didn’t explore in depth. There are thematic connections between the stories but also moments where we are jolted into new geographies, ideas, and styles.
MAT: Do you have a daily writing practice, and if so, what is it?
JC: While my schedule is erratic at the moment, I’ve often had a daily morning practice that begins with a short meditation, followed by journaling, after which I sink into whatever creative project I’m working on. If I’m lucky enough to be writing for a few hours, I’ll take breaks and walk or read. I like stopping my writing practice in the middle of a scene or a paragraph so that there’s something there I can transition back into when I start writing again. I should say this is the ideal practice, and there are many days or even weeks when I’ve been far away from it. Those are the times when I try to do whatever I can, whether it’s moving a few commas, adding a hundred new words, or simply allowing myself to read and to walk with the unwritten words.
MAT: This collection references the beauty of the Bengali language and how it transmits eloquence. Can you talk about your accretion of language? Are you ever tempted to write in Bengali?
JC: I’m fortunate to have had a bilingual education. Even after my family emigrated to the states, I would go to a school in Kolkata for the summer. This meant I was able to enjoy classical and eventually, contemporary Bengali literature. There are still certain sonic patterns that I can hear in my English sentences that I know are borrowed from Bengali, as well as structural forms that I’ve inherited from South Asian literature. While I doubt that I will try to publish fiction in Bengali, I’d love to translate for American readers lesser-known Bengali short stories writers like Ashapurna Devi.
MAT: Many of your stories look at America from an outsider’s point of view, and touch on what seem to be irreconcilable differences between your characters’ homelands and America. Can you talk a bit more about that?
JC: I was interested in interrogating the idea of home, of what we carry in our bodies that tells us this land is safe. For those who have crossed borders and oceans to make a new home, I think there’s always at least some lingering sense of sacrifice, that despite the profits and opportunities of the newfound country there is something left behind. Families, traditions, the specific look of a street at sunset, the way the body feels in a different air. Through these stories, I want to acknowledge the longing that persists despite the accumulation of new joys.
MAT: Is there any difference in your process for writing a short story collection versus a novel?
JC: Both story-writing and novel-writing are immersive processes for me. In order to feel that I’m inside of a cozy room with my characters, I can work only a single story or a single novel-in-progress at a time. This intimacy with the characters is important for me because I want to be attuned to subtle shifts in their emotional registers. That said, the novel is a longer relationship. Instead of being in a warmly lit room, sometimes I’ve felt that my novel characters and I are stranded together on a desert island (sometimes with lots of fresh fruit and water, sometimes not!). So, between the forms it’s a question of air, I suppose, and distance.
What books are you excited about now?
I had a chance to blurb Jennifer Rosner’s beautiful new novel Once We Were Home, and I recommend everyone read it. I’m also excited about Ada Zhang’s forthcoming collection of short stories from A Public Space, The Sorrows of Others. Both are out later this year.
What’s next for you?
I’m at work on a new novel. It’s entirely different from anything else I’ve written, and I’m having a ton of fun.
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