A Burning
whose debut novel, A Burning, was published in June by Knopf.
BEFORE the coronavirus pandemic set in, I sat on a panel at the Public Library Association conference beside a young novelist named Megha Majumdar. After listening to her speak about her brilliant debut novel, A Burning, I read an advance copy and was struck by the extraordinary intelligence, emotional impact, and artistry within its pages.
Set in contemporary India, with descriptions so vivid the locale seems more like a complex, multifarious character than a place, the novel tells the story of three main characters, all of whom continued to live in my thoughts weeks after reading the novel. Jivan, a young Muslim woman from the slums, is falsely accused of a terrorist attack on a train after she posts a foolish and incendiary comment on Facebook. “A woman like me is never believed,” she says. Another character, Lovely, an outcast with big dreams, seemingly holds Jivan’s fate in her hands. And an unscrupulous gym teacher, PT Sir, targets Jivan while allying himself with right-wing extremism. The yearnings of each of these characters loom large—Jivan’s aching desire to rise to the middle class, Lovely’s aspiration for stardom in Bollywood, and PT Sir’s compulsive need for political power and prestige. With perfect pacing, their stories converge, revealing the tragic ways their lives are entangled.
Megha Majumdar was born and raised in Kolkata, India. She attended Harvard University then did postgraduate work in social anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. She is currently an associate editor at Catapult.
How does the rise of extremism and nationalism in India appear in and permeate the story? Why did you choose to write about themes of classism, corruption, and injustice in India, as well as the way these forces smother hope and aspiration?
I wanted to write a novel that would pay close attention to the rise of the right wing. People can get caught in different ways within such a dangerous turn, when a certain kind of fervor shows itself and ugly impulses are rewarded. At the same time I wanted to explore how individuals live with big dreams and hopes, with humor and intelligence, with inventiveness and love, and hold all of those things close despite the ways in which their society and country might let them down.
Would you give us a sense of the unique structure of the novel, which moves back and forth between three main characters and includes what you call interludes?
Most of all I wanted a book that would move swiftly. I love plot; I love velocity; I love pages where each sentence earns its place. I worked hard on those aspects. The interludes, which are short sections following minor characters in the book, came out of my realizing that there were so many specific and rich stories that I could write. I hope the interludes serve as openings, doors left ajar, a sense for readers that they’re reading about a place that holds countless stories, each of them invigorating and nuanced. I focused on three main characters and worked hard to make sure their stories met and departed and informed one another in interesting ways. From a craft perspective, keeping those three stories in my head and building three distinct arcs that also touch each other at specific points was a challenge.
I was affected by a small scene in which Lovely stops her husband from killing a spider and asks, “Why always ruin other creatures’ lives?” This question seems to hover quietly at the heart of the story. How does the ruining of other creatures’ lives resonate in the
complicated relationship between Lovely and Jivan, and PT Sir and Jivan?
That’s such a careful reading; thank you for this. Each person in the book has to make complicated moral choices, and their choices have consequences for others. I hope readers feel those questions deep within themselves: Would we make a grab for political power if it had a devastating consequence for somebody else? Would we discard a friendship if it meant a clear path to the success that we’ve dreamed of? And all of these questions are asked, of course, within the context of a society where certain people are “othered,” where hatred of them is sanctioned and encouraged. I think that’s as true here in the United States as it is in India.
How long did it take you to write the novel, and what was the most difficult struggle you faced during that process?
Over the four years or so that I wrote this, I think a big challenge was writing three distinct characters with distinct arcs. I wrote each character in a separate document so that I could look closely at how each character moved. Then I stitched them together, and at that stage I had to do plenty of work making sure the movement of time made sense. I read the manuscript a bit like a copy editor might, watching for continuity, passing of seasons and months. Events had to unfold and make themselves felt across three lives. And the whole time I didn’t just want to put information together, of course; I had to make sure that information carried charge and electricity. So that structure was hard for me, because I was learning how to write it as I wrote it.
What was your path to publication like?
I work as an editor at Catapult, so I am familiar with the publication process, but there was still so much that was new for me. Querying agents was nerve-racking. I looked up the people who had agented books I loved and followed the guidelines on their websites strictly. More recently I did things like make myself a website—using Squarespace, but still. I’ve found it really helpful in my work as an editor when I want to learn more about an emerging writer and they have their clips and contact info and agent info in one place, so I applied that to myself. I’m learning how to be an author and share my work and also trying my best to carve out at least a little solitary writing time every week. Those are two quite different modes of being. I’m immensely lucky and grateful to work with my agent, Eric Simonoff, and my editor at Knopf, Jordan Pavlin, who are stellar professionals and the kindest human beings. My incredible publicist Gabrielle Brooks has advocated for this book in these very difficult months. What I know every day is that I am part of a team, and that has been a great source of comfort and joy.