What prompted you to write The Painter from Shanghai? How did you come up with the idea?
It was entirely unexpected for me, actually. Ten years ago (yes, this project took a while) my husband and I were at a terrific exhibit on Modern Chinese Art at the Guggenheim. There was one Pan Yuliang painting there, a self-portrait, and it drew me over immediately–it was so completely lush and unique.
When I read the accompanying bio summarizing her life I was just blown away–I couldn’t believe that no one had really heard of her in the US and I desperately wanted to learn more. I pulled Michael, my husband, over to show him, and he studied it a moment and then announced: “This is your first novel.” To be honest, I thought he was crazy at the time. But obviously the idea grew on me….
Does this book have a special link to something that happened to you in your life?
Different things, in different ways. I spent seven years in Asia, mostly as a journalist, so it certainly links to my interest in the region and the fact that I like to research. I also think Pan’s story has real meaning for me as someone who, almost since I could first read, wanted desperately to write novels but always found it too hard, too inconvenient, too “flakey,” too impractical.
Learning about Pan Yuliang and her extraordinary will to create–through situations and obstacles that were obviously far, far more dire than mine–was truly inspiring. It made me realize that if you have a passion in life you should just pursue it–regardless of how much “sense” it seems to make to you and those around you.
Who is your favorite author and why?
Tough question! It always seems to come back to the Russians. I love Tolstoy, but I’d have to say Nabakov in the end; his sheer brilliance and wit simply astound me every time I read him. But I also think Toni Morrison’s Beloved comes about as close to a perfect novel as anyone has ever gotten.
If you could pick out anyone to read and comment on your book, whom would you pick and why?
Well, Oprah is certainly up there–for obvious reasons! But I suppose I’d really like to have Pan Yuliang herself read it, were she alive and so inclined. I really wrote it out of an intense interest in learning about her life and art, and I’d be intrigued (if also terrified) to know how she thought I did.
Of course, if she hated it I’d be crushed–but as someone who made a life out of impressionistic portraits of often-foreign subjects I’d hope she’d at least appreciate my goal!
What would you like to have your readers get from this book?
Two things, beginning with that thing I said earlier about pursuing your passion. But I’d also hope people would gain–as I have–an appreciation for the fascinating and unexpected ways that cultures can meet–sometimes even clash–and yet out of that union create something completely new and beautiful in its own right.
That’s really what drew me to Pan in the first place; the way her work seeks to harmonize Eastern and Western ideas about art, and in the process creates something utterly new and unique and yet accessible to both sides.
What is your favorite part of the book?
I enjoyed writing about Yuliang’s fellow modern Chinese artist and mentor Xu Beihong the most, because he was such an extravagant character in real life and was in many ways the sort of “comic relief” of the story for me. I had great fun imagining what interactions between these vastly different artists (one outgoing and flamboyant and impossibly cocky; the other introverted, reserved and far less sure of herself) must have been like. I loved writing the cafe scene in Paris where they meet and he spends the whole encounter essentially bragging and finding ways not to actually order anything.
Where can you buy this book?
From what I’m seeing, everywhere! It’s at Barnes and Noble (it’ll be a “Discover Great New Writers” pick for June there), a Book-of-the-Month club alternate selection, on Amazon, Powells, Borders, and at the moment (this tickles me) a local bestseller (outselling Tolstoy!) at my neighborhood bookstore. Of course, that’s probably just because all my friends are buying it, but still…it’s also going to be available in Russian, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Romanian, Polish and German over the next year.
Have you received any special comments back from any of your readers and can you share them with us?
One of the ones that meant the most was from a native Chinese reader who said she was astonished at how well I evoked China for her! That was just a terrific relief. I also loved reactions from friends who are writers whose work I really value–Joanna Hershon, Hillary Jordan, Binnie Kirshenbaum, Scott Snyder (who said he actually had to stop reading for a day after one of the brothel scenes because it disturbed him so much) and Frances Sherwood, whose work I really love.
Do you have any more projects in the works?
I’m working on something set dually in Japan and the US during the last months of World War II. Hopefully it won’t take another ten years!
