In Telling One Story, A Novelist Speaks For a Country

V.V. Ganeshananthan writes in the Outlook section on the struggle to discuss all of Sri Lanka’s complex history while talking about her novel, a story of one family’s experience. Hear her read an excerpt from her book “Love Marriage.”

By V.V. Ganeshananthan

Sunday, July 13, 2008; Page B02

Yalini, the protagonist of my novel “Love Marriage,” turns 25 this month. “I was born in the early hours of the morning, on a day in late July,” she says in the book. “And as I entered this new world, my parents’ old one was being destroyed.” Moments after she is born, her Sri Lankan father watches on television as the country he left erupts into violence — the anti-Tamil riots known as “Black July.” With the anniversary of those 1983 riots, Sri Lanka’s war also turns a quarter-century old this month — and I find myself still debating how to describe it.

In practically every interview I give about the book, I am asked an unanswerable question. This morning, in San Francisco, the interviewer is Aimee Allison of radio station KPFA. We’re live, talking about Sri Lanka.

“Can you lay out what the landscape is there, and what is the source of the conflict?” she asks.

I never have more than a few minutes to capture decades — centuries? — of labyrinthine history. In recent years, especially following the 2004 tsunami and the collapse several months ago of a tattered cease-fire between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist militant group, Sri Lanka has appeared in the news slightly more than usual. But even this isn’t very much, so I can understand why the question is asked. Who’s willing to give it more than those few minutes?

I’m never sure, and so I find myself wrestling to construct responsible boilerplate that at least suggests Sri Lanka’s historical and political complexity. Of course, when I wrote the book, this was not a job I aimed to do. More…

Chauncey Bailey – iconoclastic, caring, involved – was working on two stories when he was murdered. One was on the misdeeds of Your Black Muslim Bakery and the other was corruption in the police department. Those stories cannot die, because Chancey’s life meant more than that. In fact, the last time I saw him was at my house, when I was holding a large event for the organization Silence the Violence (that is trying to cure the street violence that is tearing Oakland apart). I was in Mexico studying Spanish when I got the email that he’d been killed – and fell to the floor of the computer room with shock. Thanks to a small group of local investigative reporters, the story continues and pressure is mounting to continue the investigation. So, my small contribution is to have the story on my show on KPFA.

On my way out of the studio this morning, the reporters commented to me that many news outlets aren’t continuing to cover this investigation. They thought maybe racism has gotten in the way of the story getting out. Well, let’s all stay on this.

For Chauncey.

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My last question to her was – at this point in your life, are there things you know for sure? Her answer was beautiful, as you’ll hear. After the mics were off, she turned and asked me if I knew anything for sure. She felt challenged by my question I think. I answered that I know people can transform as I’ve seen with soldiers. She looked at me with great understanding and, I think, pity for the pain she saw in my face. When we said good-bye, she shook hands with my producer, turned to me and placed her hand on my cheek. Then, she was gone.

She’s amazing.