Why Anosh Irani looks at immigrants' sense of belonging in his latest book
Ryan B. Patrick | | Posted: December 3, 2019 6:31 PM | Last Updated: December 3, 2019
Anosh Irani is a Vancouver-based writer and playwright. His novels and plays are partially set in the streets of Bombay, the place of his birth, and tell stories of those often marginalized by society. Irani's previous books include The Parcel and The Song of Kahunsha, which was on Canada Reads 2007.
His latest, Translated from the Gibberish, is a collection of seven short stories and one semi-autobiographical "half truth" inspired by his personal experience of moving to Canada from India two decades ago.
Irani spoke with CBC Books about how he wrote Translated from the Gibberish.
Canadian since '98
"I've been in Canada now for over 20 years. I moved here in 1998. For some reason, as my 20th year in Canada approached, I had a strange sense that I needed to write about Canada. People would tell me that I was always writing about Bombay — why wasn't I writing about Canada? I kept saying that I was not ready. But I didn't know what that meant.
For some reason, as my 20th year in Canada approached, I had a strange sense that I needed to write about Canada. - Anosh Irani
"Writing about something comes from a sense of disturbance. As a writer and as a human being, if I am disturbed by something, I write about it. I hopefully transfer that disturbance, along with some insight, to the reader. The reader then gets displaced, thinks about it and is engaged."
Home again
"I don't write out of nostalgia, which is the notion that the past was better. In a way it could be, such as when I look back at my childhood or my teenage years in India. But I don't write out of that. I write more out of longing, which is for me a form of displacement. It's a longing for home. I still don't have a home. When I go back to Bombay, I don't feel at home there. I'm definitely not at home in Canada. Longing is a state of being for me.
"One story is about an illegal immigrant, who only feels at home when he's playing cricket. In another, there's a young boy who, while born in the country, longs for love and acceptance and that is home. The characters in this book are all trying to find home in some way. There's different types of longing and different types of home."
Worldbuilding without pressure
"There's a short story by John Cheever called The Swimmer. It's one of my favourite short stories. It's such a marvellous treat and I wanted to figure about how he wrote it. The short story form is mysterious that way. You are left to figure out what actually happened and what didn't happen in the story. Every time I read it, I see it in a slightly different light and I love that.
"One day, I thought, 'What if this type of story happened in Bombay, in the rough neighbourhood that I lived in?' There are no swimming pools there. But what would happen to this man if he wore a Speedo then walked around in a neighborhood in the underbelly of that place? I found the idea amusing. There was no pressure, as no one was expecting me to write a short story. It allowed me to play and create.
"I think the term 'worldbuilding' is absolutely essential in writing a short story. That is what I'm doing with Translated from the Gibberish: I'm exploring, reflecting and creating a world with these stories."
Feelings of displacement
"One of the stories in the book is a 'half truth.' It is a semi-fictional mediation of sorts. With this story, it came out of me so raw. I wouldn't say it's autobiographical — because it's still a short story — but it's deeply personal. I had no idea this was in me or how I felt. I was quite disturbed after writing it.
This sense of longing for home is centuries old and a very primal thing. - Anosh Irani
"I've been here in Canada for over two decades and I'm still feeling displaced. What does it mean? Am I ever going to find home? This sense of longing for home is centuries old and a very primal thing. When we don't find it — at least when I didn't find it — it can be very displacing."
Anosh Irani's comments have been edited for length and clarity. You can read more interviews in the How I Wrote It series here.