Elephantine tales

Indian-American author Tania James is a perceptive writer who has to her credit three books of renown — Atlas of Unknowns (shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature), Aerogrammes and The Tusk That Did The Damage — and a number of short stories.

With a Masters in Fine Arts from Columbia’s School of the Arts, Tania teaches creative writing at George Washington University. Her latest, The Tusk That Did The Damage, has aroused a lot of interest in the literary circles for the sensitive manner in which she relates the tale of people involved in the ivory trade in South India. Excerpts from an interview:

Tell us about the idea behind ‘The Tusk That Did the Damage’.

In 2011, I came across the story of a real-life elephant who used to bury his human victims, sometimes carrying the body for a mile beforehand. I’d known that elephants bury their own dead, and that they return to those burial sites and handle the bones in what seems a purposeful way, but this burial of human victims seemed a macabre distortion of a tender and sensitive act.

As it turned out, that elephant had suffered all sorts of trauma at the hands of its earlier owners, from whom it had escaped. So my interest in elephant behaviour and trauma began with that actual elephant, and spread to the question of human-elephant conflict. To me, the story of the elephant in India is inextricably twined with the humans who live around and amongst them, as captors and keepers, as farmers and forest guards. It’s a fascinatingly knotty subject, which is why I chose to tell the story from multiple perspectives.

The book follows an unconventional structure wherein the story is narrated by three different characters, including the elephant. How did this anthropomorphism contribute to the progress of the story?

To my mind, the elephant is the mystery swirling at the heart of the novel; all of the human characters are pulled to him for different reasons. And even though the reader has access to the elephant’s mind, there are limits to that access. So the story is propelled by that mystery.

Though you have not spent a lot of time in Kerala, the feel of the place in your books — The Tusk That Did The Damage and Atlas of Unknowns — seems real. How did you manage it?

I made a few research trips to Wayanad, as well as one to Periyar. I had my pen ready at all times, jotting down the sort of details that might be relevant to my characters’ observations, or just details that leapt out at me for some reason. My notebooks were rich with material, long after I’d left my research sites, and had to grapple with adding texture to a fictionalised world.

What is the most common compliment that you get?

I enjoy constructing somewhat intricate plots, ones that manage a certain level of momentum. It’s always nice to hear from a reader who was entertained by something I’ve written.

What is the inspiration behind the themes you choose for your books...
I don’t really choose a theme. I begin with characters and situations, and as the story surges forward, I find certain themes emerging. Part of the revision process is seeing what these themes are and deciding whether to tease them out or dampen them down.

With all your books being so well-received, what is the kind of pressure you feel when you sit down to write?

There’s a certain kind of pressure when I’ve finished a book and am wondering where the next one is going to come from. But it’s a necessary pressure, the kind that needs to build up before I can fully devote myself to another book.

Who are your favourite writers? Past and present?

Flannery O’Connor, E M Forster, Toni Morrison, David Mitchell, Jennifer Egan, Lorrie Moore, Chimimanda Adichie, Nathan Englander, Jonathan Safran Foer, Edwidge Danticat, and on and on.

Which writer’s work has made a deep impact on your writing? Who do you look up to?
There are writers who, at the right time in my life, gave me a bit of encouragement just when I needed it. It’s not that I was some kind of wunderkind back then, but these writers/mentors seemed to be confirming some deep internal intuition I had, that by choosing to write, I was not making a colossal mistake.

Anything planned for your next book?

Nothing as of yet. Just pressure-cooking for now.