Thursday
Jun122008
Focus On The Author: Jennifer Cody Epstein
Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 11:47AM
As an avid reader, I always love to know the background of a book: Who the author is; How he/she came to write the book; How he/she actually wrote the book (the writer-me is also interested in this one!); and, certainly, any interesting tid-bits of info or gossip surrounding the book, the author, the publication, world events at the time, whatever -- I like to know.
Which brings us to a fairly new feature on RebelHousewife.com, Focus on the Author, which started last month with Joshilyn Jackson, and continues now:
I published the Rebel Review for her debut novel, The Painter From Shanghai, earlier today, and I wanted to give you the inside scoop, additional information to enhance your enjoyment of Jenn's remarkable book, from email interview and correspondence with the author:
Rebel Housewife (RH): How authentic are the relationships between these characters, and even more so, how accurate are the cultural and period details (for example, the foot binding, concubines and women's rights/freedom in China during this time?
Jennifer Cody Epstein (JCE): The thing about taking on a subject like Pan Yuliang is that while she's fairly recognized in China, the actual facts of her life -- even among Chinese sources -- are pretty obscure. There's really only one biography on her, and it's fictionalized (it began as a serialized piece in an art magazine, written under a pseudonym). Even the dates on her gravestone in Paris are generally agreed to be incorrect. So, in many ways, the only way to try to get close to the emotional (and, in fact, many of the physical) realities of her life was to imagine. Given that, the relationships were almost entirely fictionalized; many of the secondary characters (Jinling, God Mother) were as well. The other relationships I simply tried to create for myself, with what I knew of the historical figures they were based upon and the way I'd come to picture Pan Yuliang for myself, both through her art and the little info there is out there.
The historical details and elements, on the other hand, I tried very hard to research and confirm to the extent that I could. I took several classes at Columbia on Chinese history, and read everything I could get my hands on (you can see some of my reading list at the back of the US edition). I probably clocked about a solid year on the Internet. I also interviewed a number of people about the Chinese art movement, foot binding, Chinese brothels, etc.
RH: I read on your website (link below) that you have a BA in Asian Studies and a Masters in International Relations; that you lived in Asia for 7 years and you did extensive research for this book during your MFA. How did you come to live in Asia?
JCE: I've been to Paris several times, and actually lived in Bologna, Italy for a year for my first (fabulous) year at Johns Hopkins. I lived in Asia because I was a journalist there; first for Knight-Ridder Financial News in Tokyo, then subsequently (during grad school) for The Nation in Bangkok; then (after grad school) for the Wall Street Journal in Tokyo again. I moved to Hong Kong and to TV for two years after working at WSJ (largely in an effort to get away from financial journalism) and had a boyfriend in Shanghai, so I did a lot of traveling back and forth.
I think my fascination with cross-cultural, East-West experiences stemmed, in part, from all the time I'd spent traveling between the Eastern and Western capitals of the world, and the observations I'd made for myself about both their differences and the interesting and unexpected ways foreign cultures mix and interact with one another.
RH: How do you think it might be different (would it?) for a woman artist like Yuliang in present-day China?
JCE: I think things are somewhat easier for Chinese women artists in that there is at least a perception that women should be equal in China, and have the same rights as men. That said, from what I gather talking to art historians and experts, women still don't occupy as central a place in the modern art world there as men do; and they certainly don't get as much attention in the "Chinese art boom" that is sweeping the West. There are several opinions as to why this might be, but my own sense is that they simply don't have the same encouragement and access to the same commercial connections that men do yet.
RH: What has the response and reaction been to your book, especially from Chinese people?
JCE: So far they've been pretty gratifying--or at least, the ones I know about are! The Sing Tao (the Chinese paper in New York) says Painter "thwarts the barriers of language, time and space" and is "vivid" to boot. And the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong's leading English Language paper) calls it " a page turner," a "vivid retelling" and notes that "non-Chinese speaking Epstein writes about historical China and the Chinese in a surprisingly authentic way."
Moreover, there seems to be real interest in China in the book, which surprised me in some ways--I wasn't at all sure that I'd want to read, say, a novel about Picasso written by a Chinese writer in Chinese! That said, I suppose there's a certain level of intrigue, even exoticism, in the improbable fact that someone like me chose to take on a subject like this. Just as--to me--there was real intrigue that someone like Pan Yuliang would choose post-Impressionistic techniques to express her burgeoning artistic sensibilities.
RH: Have there been comparisons to Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden and how do you respond? [I would have to admit I never got through all of Memoirs, couldn't make it through the beginning, whereas I tore through The Painter From Shanghai, couldn't put it down, so there you go...]
JCE: Essentially, I'm really, really mixed on it. On the one hand I loved Memoirs, and am flattered that anyone would compare me to what was so obviously an industry-changing novel. But it’s a little strange to be constantly compared (as I am) to a book that I actually don’t think has much in common with mine--apart from having an Asian prostitute at its heart. I was really trying to do something very different in Painter than talk about prostitution; in fact, I was far less interested in Pan’s experiences at the brothel than how they informed her development as an artist. And, of course, Japan and China are extraordinarily different countries and cultures (having lived in both I can say that with a fair degree of confidence!).
So I guess, in the end, it cuts both ways--if the comparison makes people who liked Memoirs take a look at my book then that’s good, obviously. But I’d have to say if they still feel like they’re similar after reading through, I’d be slightly disheartened--no one wants to live under someone else’s literary shadow (and Geisha casts a very long shadow!) And my favorite reviews--the New York Times, the South China Morning Post, the Huffington Post--are the ones that don’t make the comparison at all. [NOTE: The Rebel Review does not mention this comparison! ;-)]
RH: I read on your website how difficult it was, at times, to work on this book as a new mom, in the early days. I admire and applaud you as an author, woman and mother, to finish and publish this book WITH KIDS (two daughters) -- how did you do it? Do you have a "process" for writing? What do your kids think of their Mommy as an author and your book?
JCE: Overall it was a struggle, for sure--but it was one that was oddly well-balanced and well-suited for me. I found that the intense physicality and lack of privacy in motherhood was a terrific counterpart to the intense isolation and intellectual exertion of writing and researching so much. The time factor was a bit difficult, but in the end I benefited from that too; it more or less trained me to make the most of my very limited free time. I simply didn't have the luxury, as a mom, to say "I don't feel like writing right now"--to wait for the muse. I had to be "on" when I had the time. It still doesn't always work (as I try to get started on the next novel I'm realizing this all the more!). But it's kind of nice to be stripped of that luxury of uncertainty and writerly angst; if you spend too much time "angsting" you just don't get anything done!
Jenn wrote more about this issue for Conversational Reading (link to blog below):
These days life is easier; Katie is in school until three, her sister Hannah until noon, and we have enough money for some limited sitting. I'm getting much more sleep, and my prime working hours tend to be from the far more civilized hours of eleven to five. P.M., I should note.
That's not to say maternal/writing balance isn't still wobbly at times. Katie (now seven) did lambaste me recently for missing every field trip in her short school life to date. "You're always writing," she complained. "You act as though your computer is more important than me."
But she also brought my novel in for show and tell, and announced to anyone who would listen: "My mom writes books." And as she shepherded the glossy volume from hand to small, sticky hand, the look of sheer pride on her face was just about the best review that any writer -- or mother -- could ever hope for.
See Also:
RebelHousewife.com: Rebel Review - The Painter From Shanghai
JenniferCodyEpstein.com: PAN YULIANG'S PAINTINGS
JenniferCodyEpstein.com: BECOMING PAN YULIANG - Author's Bio
Booksquare.com: Memoirs of a Non-Geisha by Jennifer Cody Epstein
Conversationalreading.com: Rewriting Motherhood by Jennifer Cody Epstein
Which brings us to a fairly new feature on RebelHousewife.com, Focus on the Author, which started last month with Joshilyn Jackson, and continues now:
Focus on the Author: Jennifer Cody Epstein
;)
I published the Rebel Review for her debut novel, The Painter From Shanghai, earlier today, and I wanted to give you the inside scoop, additional information to enhance your enjoyment of Jenn's remarkable book, from email interview and correspondence with the author:
Rebel Housewife (RH): How authentic are the relationships between these characters, and even more so, how accurate are the cultural and period details (for example, the foot binding, concubines and women's rights/freedom in China during this time?
Jennifer Cody Epstein (JCE): The thing about taking on a subject like Pan Yuliang is that while she's fairly recognized in China, the actual facts of her life -- even among Chinese sources -- are pretty obscure. There's really only one biography on her, and it's fictionalized (it began as a serialized piece in an art magazine, written under a pseudonym). Even the dates on her gravestone in Paris are generally agreed to be incorrect. So, in many ways, the only way to try to get close to the emotional (and, in fact, many of the physical) realities of her life was to imagine. Given that, the relationships were almost entirely fictionalized; many of the secondary characters (Jinling, God Mother) were as well. The other relationships I simply tried to create for myself, with what I knew of the historical figures they were based upon and the way I'd come to picture Pan Yuliang for myself, both through her art and the little info there is out there.
The historical details and elements, on the other hand, I tried very hard to research and confirm to the extent that I could. I took several classes at Columbia on Chinese history, and read everything I could get my hands on (you can see some of my reading list at the back of the US edition). I probably clocked about a solid year on the Internet. I also interviewed a number of people about the Chinese art movement, foot binding, Chinese brothels, etc.
RH: I read on your website (link below) that you have a BA in Asian Studies and a Masters in International Relations; that you lived in Asia for 7 years and you did extensive research for this book during your MFA. How did you come to live in Asia?
JCE: I've been to Paris several times, and actually lived in Bologna, Italy for a year for my first (fabulous) year at Johns Hopkins. I lived in Asia because I was a journalist there; first for Knight-Ridder Financial News in Tokyo, then subsequently (during grad school) for The Nation in Bangkok; then (after grad school) for the Wall Street Journal in Tokyo again. I moved to Hong Kong and to TV for two years after working at WSJ (largely in an effort to get away from financial journalism) and had a boyfriend in Shanghai, so I did a lot of traveling back and forth.
I think my fascination with cross-cultural, East-West experiences stemmed, in part, from all the time I'd spent traveling between the Eastern and Western capitals of the world, and the observations I'd made for myself about both their differences and the interesting and unexpected ways foreign cultures mix and interact with one another.
RH: How do you think it might be different (would it?) for a woman artist like Yuliang in present-day China?
JCE: I think things are somewhat easier for Chinese women artists in that there is at least a perception that women should be equal in China, and have the same rights as men. That said, from what I gather talking to art historians and experts, women still don't occupy as central a place in the modern art world there as men do; and they certainly don't get as much attention in the "Chinese art boom" that is sweeping the West. There are several opinions as to why this might be, but my own sense is that they simply don't have the same encouragement and access to the same commercial connections that men do yet.
RH: What has the response and reaction been to your book, especially from Chinese people?
JCE: So far they've been pretty gratifying--or at least, the ones I know about are! The Sing Tao (the Chinese paper in New York) says Painter "thwarts the barriers of language, time and space" and is "vivid" to boot. And the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong's leading English Language paper) calls it " a page turner," a "vivid retelling" and notes that "non-Chinese speaking Epstein writes about historical China and the Chinese in a surprisingly authentic way."
Moreover, there seems to be real interest in China in the book, which surprised me in some ways--I wasn't at all sure that I'd want to read, say, a novel about Picasso written by a Chinese writer in Chinese! That said, I suppose there's a certain level of intrigue, even exoticism, in the improbable fact that someone like me chose to take on a subject like this. Just as--to me--there was real intrigue that someone like Pan Yuliang would choose post-Impressionistic techniques to express her burgeoning artistic sensibilities.
RH: Have there been comparisons to Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden and how do you respond? [I would have to admit I never got through all of Memoirs, couldn't make it through the beginning, whereas I tore through The Painter From Shanghai, couldn't put it down, so there you go...]
JCE: Essentially, I'm really, really mixed on it. On the one hand I loved Memoirs, and am flattered that anyone would compare me to what was so obviously an industry-changing novel. But it’s a little strange to be constantly compared (as I am) to a book that I actually don’t think has much in common with mine--apart from having an Asian prostitute at its heart. I was really trying to do something very different in Painter than talk about prostitution; in fact, I was far less interested in Pan’s experiences at the brothel than how they informed her development as an artist. And, of course, Japan and China are extraordinarily different countries and cultures (having lived in both I can say that with a fair degree of confidence!).
So I guess, in the end, it cuts both ways--if the comparison makes people who liked Memoirs take a look at my book then that’s good, obviously. But I’d have to say if they still feel like they’re similar after reading through, I’d be slightly disheartened--no one wants to live under someone else’s literary shadow (and Geisha casts a very long shadow!) And my favorite reviews--the New York Times, the South China Morning Post, the Huffington Post--are the ones that don’t make the comparison at all. [NOTE: The Rebel Review does not mention this comparison! ;-)]
RH: I read on your website how difficult it was, at times, to work on this book as a new mom, in the early days. I admire and applaud you as an author, woman and mother, to finish and publish this book WITH KIDS (two daughters) -- how did you do it? Do you have a "process" for writing? What do your kids think of their Mommy as an author and your book?
JCE: Overall it was a struggle, for sure--but it was one that was oddly well-balanced and well-suited for me. I found that the intense physicality and lack of privacy in motherhood was a terrific counterpart to the intense isolation and intellectual exertion of writing and researching so much. The time factor was a bit difficult, but in the end I benefited from that too; it more or less trained me to make the most of my very limited free time. I simply didn't have the luxury, as a mom, to say "I don't feel like writing right now"--to wait for the muse. I had to be "on" when I had the time. It still doesn't always work (as I try to get started on the next novel I'm realizing this all the more!). But it's kind of nice to be stripped of that luxury of uncertainty and writerly angst; if you spend too much time "angsting" you just don't get anything done!
Jenn wrote more about this issue for Conversational Reading (link to blog below):
These days life is easier; Katie is in school until three, her sister Hannah until noon, and we have enough money for some limited sitting. I'm getting much more sleep, and my prime working hours tend to be from the far more civilized hours of eleven to five. P.M., I should note.
That's not to say maternal/writing balance isn't still wobbly at times. Katie (now seven) did lambaste me recently for missing every field trip in her short school life to date. "You're always writing," she complained. "You act as though your computer is more important than me."
But she also brought my novel in for show and tell, and announced to anyone who would listen: "My mom writes books." And as she shepherded the glossy volume from hand to small, sticky hand, the look of sheer pride on her face was just about the best review that any writer -- or mother -- could ever hope for.
See Also:
RebelHousewife.com: Rebel Review - The Painter From Shanghai
JenniferCodyEpstein.com: PAN YULIANG'S PAINTINGS
JenniferCodyEpstein.com: BECOMING PAN YULIANG - Author's Bio
Booksquare.com: Memoirs of a Non-Geisha by Jennifer Cody Epstein
Conversationalreading.com: Rewriting Motherhood by Jennifer Cody Epstein
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