Chat with Gary Shteyngart -- April 13, 2007
Novelist Gary Shteyngart's "Absurdistan'' chronicles a world where money solves almost everything -- and makes Halliburton contractors especially happy. He took questions from Boston.com readers on Friday, April 13.
Gary_Shteyngart: Hi, this is Gary Shteyngart, and I'm here for our noontime chat on "Absurdistan'' and other things.
Cheney_fan__Guest_: A part of your book -- and it managed to be hilarious -- was about no-bid, high-profit opportunities for Halliburton subsidiaries in conflict zones. With talk of war with Iran, what sort of "opportunities'' do you see for Halliburton and Kellogg, Brown & Root in a New Iran?
Gary_Shteyngart: I think there will be a lot of great opportunities for building million-dollar marble-tiled bathrooms and I think there's a lot of oil wells that will need to be repaired after we bomb them. So, I'm very bullish on the new Dubai-based Halliburton.
Cheney_fan__Guest_: Seems like these days are made for satires like your book and works from the just-departed Kurt Vonnegut? Did you draw any inspiration from Vonnegut, and would you agree that we're in a satire-friendly period?
Gary_Shteyngart: We are definitely in a satire-friendly period. I think satire thrives when evil and stupidity collide. I actually read a lot of Vonnegut when I could barely read English when I was had just arrived from the former Soviet Union. I remember "Cat's Cradle,'' even though I couldn't fully understand it, really laughing at the Republic of San Lorenzo. We need more Vonneguts.
American_in_Moscow__Guest_: Do you find Russia a difficult place to satirize, on the grounds that real-life Russia tends to be pretty over-the-top. I suspect that many Americans reading your books will think that some scenes are exaggerated, even though to me they look realistic.
Gary_Shteyngart: Exactly. That's one of the strangest complaints I've heard. Is that everything is exaggerated. Things that happened to me there -- like almost being kidnapped -- mirror or exceed things in the book.
Gary_Shteyngart: And I think that when the book is translated into Russian, which will be in a bit, many citizens of the former Soviet Union will just shrug and say, "That's life.''
Cheney_fan__Guest_: Your book posits a Russia and former Soviet republics where almost everything is for sale. Has there been a Russian-language version of the book out -- what's the reaction to it there?
Gary_Shteyngart: There will be a translation soon, and I'm very curious as to what the reaction will be. Russia is a country where you can pay to be a cosmonaut, and one Men's Magazine actually flirted with the idea of sending me into space.
Gary_Shteyngart: It's also a country where you can buy "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' in the parliament building, so you can do anything.
Gary_Shteyngart: People always want to know if I'm religious, because there are lots of scnees of Orthodox Jews and Christians in the book. The answer is no, but I am culturally Jewish.
Gary_Shteyngart: I moved to Italy to write most of this book because I wanted to be in a place in where I could write without English or Russian. Will there be a sequel? I think life is the sequel to "Absurdistan.'' I think Misha (the protangonist of the book) will make a return appearance, however.
Gary_Shteyngart: Next week, I'm coming to Boston. It's a very literate population. I love my readings in Brookline -- or Brookstine -- as well. This time, I'm reading for the Harvard Book Store at the Brattle Theater at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 16.
Gary_Shteyngart: (Marathon Monday). Yes, so please, jog to my reading.
Gary_Shteyngart: I spend quite a lot of time in Boston. My girlfriend lives there, and I love Redbones, St. Louis ribs. The Arkansas ribs are very good also.
Howie_Kendrick__Guest_: Gary, what's the point of your book? Just satirical Bush-bashing? Don't we have enough of that?
Gary_Shteyngart: In my view, the book is more about the personal relationship of a man to his father, the nation he was born in, Russia, and the city of his dreams, New York.
Gary_Shteyngart: I think Bush is mentioned only once in the book by name.
Gary_Shteyngart: The book was mostly planned out before Bush even took office, and the events of the last five years have given the book a different meaning for many people than what was intended.
Ivan_hoe__Guest_: Gary, loved the book. How much of it did you base on real-life issues, and how much of it is just tongue and cheek?
Gary_Shteyngart: I think this is more of a book of journalism than of fiction. Many of the events in the book actually happened.
Gary_Shteyngart: The character is not autobiographical. I weigh 200 pounds less. But the setting is, to me, quite real.
cape__Guest_ : What inspired you to write? What's been most of the feedback you're getting in response to your book? Is it anything you expected? Thank you.
Gary_Shteyngart: I've been getting amazingly good feedback. There have been complaints from some people -- Russians and Azeris, in particular. Before I write a book, my father says "Will it be good for the Jews?" The American Jewish community, at least so far, has been very supportive so far.
Gary_Shteyngart: I actually thought everybody would hate this book, given the protagonist, but am happy that at least some people have found an affinity with my gargantua.
789Erica__Guest_: Gary, how did you research Middle Eastern culture for the book?
Gary_Shteyngart: The book is set in the Caucuses region of the former Soviet Union. I researched it by just hanging out in cafes and bars, chatting up locals, politicians, hookers, con men, anybody who would talk to me.
bobby__Guest_: is the industry welcoming to young writers?
Gary_Shteyngart: Publishing is in a state of flux. Fiction has taken a bit of a hit since 9/11. Many readers just prefer to read a nonfiction book about Al Queda than a novel about a couple getting divorced in Newton, but I think there's a place for all kinds of book. To a young novelist, I would say that it helps to be from a certain part of the world, or to write about things that have not been covered ad nauseum in previous works of fiction.
Gary_Shteyngart: These are fascinating times. It helps to use one's imagination and research skills at all times. ... This book took about a year, around 9/11 when I couldn't get anything done, and then I spent a year in Italy and the whole thing poured right out of me. The pasta and wine helped as well.
nevsky_prospekt__Guest_: Hi Gary, Just read Pamuk's "Snow," a book that also weaves fiction with political reality. Seems fiction can often be more powerful than the news pages in terms of making people face the inherent contradictions, harsh realities, etc. in real-world politics. In other words, it cuts through things - connecting the dots more effectively than even factual, straight-forward analysis. Agree? Thoughts on that?
Gary_Shteyngart: I agree completely, and I think it's beautifully said. I think 30 years from now, when people want to read about how people felt about 9/11, they will turn less to the nonfiction books explaining what happened, but to the novels, which capture both the political and social reality and the incredible emotional and psychological toll of that awful day.
Gary_Shteyngart: Literary fiction might be down right now, as we are still reeling from the fact that America is no longer secure, but it is still one of the most important ways in which we can make sense of ourselves, our country, and our place in the world.
Burton_frosh__Guest_: Gary, why did you decide to have the main character hugely obese, and how did this choice affect where you could go with the story?
Gary_Shteyngart: I am a disciple of Fat Man Fiction, from Rabelais to Oblomov to my favorite American book of the past 25 years, "The Confederacy of Dunces.''
Gary_Shteyngart: Also I wanted to write about a man who was a consumer to the umpteenth degree, consuming everything in front of him: sturgeon, blini, stupid political ideas, and many, many unfortunate woman.
lord_jim__Guest_: Gary, it sounds like your story is autobiographical -- how do you write about personal experiences but make it interesting to others? Do you ever run the risk of just writing something for yourself?
Gary_Shteyngart: Despite the memoir craze, the hero of "Absurdistan'' is not remotely me, in girth, political outlook, or sexual appetite.
Gary_Shteyngart: It is a wild exaggeration of some of the people I have met. But a part of me DOES admire Misha's relentless engagement with the world. The writer spends too many hours sitting, lonely and alone, in a small Brooklyn or Brookline apartment, wishing that like his or her protagonist, they could be out there, sampling the world's delights.
nevsky_prospekt__Guest_: Thanks for your thoughts, Gary. Meant to point to Vonnegut, too, as someone who so deftly used fiction to write about reality...
Gary_Shteyngart: The new work I am writing has elements of science fisction in it, and that intersection with technology is something I admired in Vonnegut's work.
Gary_Shteyngart: The current book is set in the very near future, in a world where a majority of the population has lost the ability to read or write. As with my previous two books, it is barely fiction.
Gary_Shteyngart: It's also about immortality, Korean evangelicals, and a love affair between two immigrants.
OB-JYNNE__Guest_: Dear Gary, Tell me about your favorite books and the writers who influenced you the most. Read anything good lately?
Gary_Shteyngart: My favorite books include Philip Roth's many works. "Portnoy's Complaint'' and "American Pastoral'' stand out. Russian writers like Gurgenev and Checkov stand out. Two great books I've just read include "The Last of Her Kind,'' by Sigrid Nunez; and "Random Family,'' by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc.
Gary_Shteyngart: Both of those books talk about issues of poverty and incarceration, with a kind of vibrancy and generosity I've never seen before.
Gary_Shteyngart: I'm also in love with architecture and I'm in love with urban planning. And I want to see cities like New York and Boston develop beautiful, architectually important mixed-income housing.
Gary_Shteyngart: I live in a kind of middle-class project that was built for garment workers in New York.
Gary_Shteyngart: As for movies, the best movie I've seen in a long time is "The Lives of Others.'' Just amazing characters, and boy, did I not know enough about the East German Stasi. Those guys gave our KGB a run for the money.
Gary_Shteyngart: Listen, thank you so much for having me. I can't wait to get back to Redbones this weekend.
(A reminder: Gary Shteyngart will be speaking at the Brattle Theater as part of the Harvard Book Store authors series at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 16).
