All the Lives We Never Lived
Page 30
The two extracts from Tagore’s writings included here were originally published in “Thoughts from Rabindranath Tagore,” English Writings, vol. III, p. 58, edited by Sisir Kumar Das (Delhi: 1996); and “Mone Pora,” from Poems (1922; reprint, Calcutta: Visvabharati, 2002).
The particulars of Beryl de Zoete’s life would have been lost to all but scholars if not for the work of Marian Ury, whose premature death put an end to the biography she was writing. Her lively, sympathetic essay, “Some Notes Towards a Life of Beryl de Zoete” (Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries, vol. 48, no. 1, June 1986) provides a great deal of information. The extract about Aisha is taken from “Siwa,” a lecture Beryl de Zoete gave at Dartington in March 1941. It was published in The Thunder and the Freshness, the Collected Essays of Beryl de Zoete, edited by Arthur Waley (London: Neville Spearman Ltd, 1963).
For events relating to the Second World War in India, I learned a great deal from the outstanding scholarship of the historians Indivar Kamtekar and Yasmin Khan. Various online archives, including those of the British Library, provided invaluable information on the war in the East Indies and India. Radhika Singha supplemented her essay “A ‘Proper Passport’ for the Colony: Border Crossing in British India, 1882–1920” with patient answers to my questions about colonial-era travel. For the specifics of passenger berths on merchant ships, I am grateful to Captain Soumitra Mazumdar.
Memoirs by Alan Moorehead, Rajeshwar Dayal, Santha Rama Rau, Madhur Jaffrey, and Nirad C. Chaudhuri allowed me to inhabit the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s. Raghu Karnad’s Farthest Field provided an intimate study of an Indian family caught in the war. My father-in-law, the late Ram Advani, who was born in 1920, was always available for the odd, specific questions that only someone who had actually lived through those times could answer.
Thanks also to Arundhati Gupta, Partho Datta, and Teteii for letting me pick their brains about the experiences of their families. To Elahe Hiptoola for a helping hand with Urdu. And to Piku, Soda, and Barauni Jungshun for letting me in on the daily, loopy joy of their world.
I am deeply grateful to everyone at MacLehose Press, Hachette India, and Atria Books who make publishing such a happy experience: especially Poulomi Chatterji, Paul Engles, Avanija Sundaramurthy, and Priya Singh. To Rakesh Satyal for making the American edition possible and for seeing it through with such care, and Thomas Abraham for his affectionate, laconic calm through turbulent decades of friendship and work.
Several editorial sessions over the years took place on the most beautiful and hospitable terrace in all of France, at the home of Miska, Koukla, and my publisher and editor Christopher MacLehose. Despite ten years of working with Christopher, his ability to transform manuscripts with exasperating, anarchic brilliance is still astonishing to me—as astonishing as the fact that I have survived four books and lived to tell the tale.
My mother’s descriptions of life in a many-branched joint family in Jaipur and her recollections of the 1940s have helped me construct this novel’s world. Also woven into the fabric of this book—and my life—are glorious musical afternoons with the late singer and writer Sheila Dhar; I have drawn on her stories about Begum Akhtar, some of which feature in her Raga’n’ Josh (Delhi: Permanent Black, 2005). She once informed my mother with characteristic drama that she, “the other Sheila,” was my “foster mother.” My mother took this gracefully in her stride, as she has done much else. This book is dedicated to both Sheelas.
Finally, as at the start, Rukun.
An Atria Books Reading Group Guide
All the Lives We Never Lived
Anuradha Roy
This reading group guide for All the Lives We Never Lived includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
Introduction
In my childhood, I was known as the boy whose mother had run off with an Englishman. The man was in fact German, but in small‑town India in those days, all white foreigners were largely thought of as British.
So begins the story of Myshkin and his mother, Gayatri, a rebellious, alluring artist who abandons parenthood and marriage to follow her primal desire for freedom.
Though freedom may be stirring in the air of India, across the world the Nazis have risen to power in Germany. At this point of crisis, a German artist from Gayatri’s past seeks her out. His arrival ignites passions she has long been forced to suppress.
What follows is her life as pieced together by her son, a journey that takes him through India and Dutch‑held Bali. Excavating the roots of the world in which he was abandoned, he comes to understand his long‑lost mother, and the connections between strife at home and a war‑torn universe overtaken by patriotism.
Topics and Questions for Discussion
1. Myshkin tells us that “in telling the story of any life, and certainly when telling our own, we cannot pretend we are narrating everything just as it happened.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why?
2. Myshkin notes that there is a drastic difference between Gayatri’s life before and after she married his father. What does this tell us about Myshkin’s opinion of his mother and his relationship with her?
3. Throughout the novel, Nek, Myshkin’s father, constantly says “there are hobbies and then there are serious matters.” What does this tell us about Nek’s character? Describe his opinion of Gayatri.
4. Myshkin mentions characters such as Walter Spies, Beryl de Zoete, and Akhtari Bai. How do they influence Gayatri? Why are they important in this story?
5. Identify the types of power structures that play out in the novel.
6. The notion of “freedom” has an important role in the story but it means a different thing to each character. What does this word mean to Myshkin, Nek, and Gayatri?
7. Discuss the moment Gayatri leaves Myshkin and her family behind to run away with Walter Spies. How does this affect Myshkin, and how does the event influence his character development?
8. Several months after Gayatri leaves, Nek decides to go on his own spiritual journey, leaving Myshkin in his grandfather’s care. What do you think of Nek’s actions? Explain.
9. How does Myshkin view Lipi’s appearance? Why is he so resentful towards her in the beginning?
10. Certain chapters towards the end include the letters that Gayatri sent to Liz Aunty. Why do you think the author wanted readers to see this? How might have things been different if readers were never shown these letters?
11. In the letters, Gayatri reveals a long-held secret. How does the truth affect Myshkin?
12. Compare and contrast Myshkin’s relationship with his mother and that with his father? To which parent was he closest?
13. At the end of the novel, Myshkin is setting out on a journey of his own. What is the significance of this decision?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. Research the lives of real-life historical figures that appear in the novel, such as Walter Spies, Beryl de Zoete, and Akhtari Bai. How do they compare to their fictional counterparts?
2. Myshkin narrates All the Lives We Never Lived in retrospect. What effect does this have on the story? Try writing your own history and narrating it from the perspective of your future self.
3. The novel describes two large events in history: World War II and the fight for India’s independence. Why do you think the author chose such events as the novel’s backdrop?
4. Read Anuradha Roy’s previous novels Sleeping on Jupiter, The Folded Earth, and An Atlas of Impossible Longing. How is All the Lives We Never Lived similar to or different from to these novels? What are some recurring themes?
More Books to Enjoy
An Atlas of Impossible…
The Folded Earth
ABOUT THE AUTH
OR
Anuradha Roy is the author of An Atlas of Impossible Longing and The Folded Earth, as well as Sleeping on Jupiter, which won the DSC Prize for Fiction 2016 and was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize 2015. She lives in Ranikhet, India.
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Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Anuradha-Roy
Facebook.com/AtriaBooks @AtriaBooks @AtriaBooks
ALSO BY ANURADHA ROY
An Atlas of Impossible Longing (2008)
The Folded Earth (2011)
Sleeping on Jupiter (2015)
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Anuradha Roy
First published in Great Britain in 2018 by MacLehose Press
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Interior design by Kyoko Watanabe
Jacket design by Laywan Kwan
Jacket photograph by Tamara Staples
Background image by Steve Winter/Getty Images
Author photograph by Rukun Advani
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Title: All the lives we never lived : a novel / Anuradha Roy.
Description: New York : Atria Books, 2018.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018026734 (print) | LCCN 2018028598 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982100537 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982100513 (hardback) | ISBN 9781982100520 (paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: India—History—20th century—Fiction. | World War, 1939-1945—India—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Literary. | FICTION / Historical. | FICTION / Cultural Heritage. | GSAFD: Historical fiction.
Classification: LCC PR9499.4.R693 (ebook) | LCC PR9499.4.R693 A78 2018 (print) | DDC 823/.92--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018026734
ISBN 978-1-9821-0051-3
ISBN 978-1-9821-0053-7 (ebook)