Q&A with Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Chitra Divakaruni shares thoughts on her new book, The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming, with reviewer and children's author Uma Krishnaswami.
UK. How much of the The Brotherhood of the Conch trilogy did you have plotted out at the time you wrote The Conch Bearer? Can you tell me a little about the process of writing the second book? What did you know when you started out? What discoveries did you make along the way?
CD. I do each book one at a time. In fact until I finished Conch, I didn't even think it would be a trilogy. When I started Mirror, all I knew was that since the first book was set in the present, I wanted to go into the past with this one. (Book 3 will be set in the future; that's all I know about it right now.)
UK. Nisha's character feels a little more shadowy than in the first book, and like Anand she's also dealing with issues larger than her personal survival on the streets. Talk about how you see her character growing.
CD. For one thing, she is older, and thus more involved in what it means to leave girlhood and enter womanhood. She is also dealing with the Muslim culture in which she finds herself (purdah, family honor, etc). The idea of loyalty, love, sacrifice,vengeance & forgiveness all become important in this story, especially where she is concerned.
UK. I'm intrigued by your weaving in a plausible historical period into the fantasy tale. Can you talk a little about the historical context of the alternate world here? What period are we glimpsing? Help our readers to see how much is an accurate reflection of history and how much is fictionalized.
CD. I'm thinking of the Muslim rulers of Bengal in the 16- and 1700s. The details such as clothing, food, palace structure are mostly historical. The characters are all fictionalized.
UK. You weave in myths and legends from Hindu tradition into both books, but in this one I also thought I caught shades of quite another mythopeic tradition--Tolkien, perhaps, and the mingling of fantasy and royalty that we see in the tales of the brothers Grimm? Would you comment on the literature that informed this work?
CD. Arabian Nights is also an influence here, since we are dealing with Muslim tales. Certainly both eastern and western fairy tale traditions have influenced me, as well as Joseph Campbell's discussions of the hero.
UK. Anything else you'd want readers to know?
CD. I wanted particularly to set this story in a Muslim universe to give my readers Muslim characters they can identify/sympathize with. There's so much anti-Muslim sentiment in the world today, in the wake of terrorist activities. I wanted to present children with another side.
I also wanted (Indian) animals to play a big part in the story--I was happy when Matangi appeared!
UK. Thank you Chitra!
Reviews
The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming: The Brotherhood of the Conch, Book II
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
At the opening of this sequel to the author's first fantasy for young readers, The Conch Bearer, Anand, now Keeper of the Conch, finds himself in training. In the beautiful Silver Valley, he enters his new life as an apprentice with the Brotherhood of Healers. The food is fabulous and the sweeper girl, Nisha--his companion in the earlier stage of his quest--seems utterly absorbed by the delights of this new life. We know, of course, that this will change, and it does. The scene in which Anand first realizes that Abhaydatta is in danger is a well-crafted turning point, all the more interesting for being set against the green fields and scented slopes of Himalayan foothills. Picking up the pace, Anand and Nisha are both transported in different ways to an alternate reality of Bengal in the days of the Nawabs, when rival princes battle for land and power and the East India Company is petitioning for extensions of treaties. Against this backdrop, Anand must face a dark and powerful figure in a cause larger than his own wants and needs. Nisha, in this other world, faces a choice of her own, although her character seems shadowed here, in contrast to her vitality in the first book. Divakaruni conveys a world view traditional to children's fantasy, in which good and evil are clearly defined and we know whose side we are supposed to be on. Epic figures are drawn from a multiplicity of traditions. The mirror itself seems part Palantir, part oracle, capable of becoming a fluid pathway between worlds. Some relationships are unexpected and tender, such as Anand's connection with the elephant Matangi. Middle books in trilogies are always difficult to pull off. Despite the magic pearls and portals, and the presence of evil, this one is a gently-paced story driven by setting and character. 2005, Roaring Brook, Ages 8 to 12, $16.95. Reviewer: Uma Krishnaswami
ISBN: 1-59643-067-2
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Updated 2006
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