Publisher Spotlight Other Press: Interview with Mitchell James Kaplan

Photo by Renee Rosensteel courtesy of Other Press.

Today's entry in the Other Press Publisher Spotlight series is an interview with author Mitchell James Kaplan, whose novel By Fire, By Water I reviewed yesterday. 

You can see my review here and the intro post to the series here.

The book is an intriguing and engrossing novel set during the time of the Spanish Inquisition and Colombus’s voyage to the Americas and focuses on a diverse community of Spanish Jews.

You can find reviews of By Fire, By Water in Ha’aretz, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.

 

1. What was it that drew your attention to the topic of converso Jews and the Inquisition?

I did not set out to write a book about converso Jews or the Spanish Inquisition. I set out to write a novel exploring the background of Christopher Columbus’s 1492 voyage of discovery. It became clear that Columbus’s voyage was as much the symptom of a world in profound disarray as it was a harbinger of change. As I explored that disarray, the Spanish inquisition and the condition of conversos came into focus as important elements in my story.

2. Why do you think this subject is important for today’s readers?

Most of us are conversos today, in the sense that we must navigate between different identities and ghettos. Few of us in the western world any longer have the privilege of remaining confined within one narrow belief system or ethnicity, to the exclusion of all others. Like it or not, we are exposed to competing world-views and absorb elements from them. The conversos of fifteenth century Spain were precursors of modern man.

3. Why did you choose Luis de Santangel as the central figure of your book? How is the real life Santangel different from your fictional creation?

Santangel stood at the center of all four events that changed the world at the end of the fifteenth century: the Spanish Inquisition, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the “reconquest” of Granada, and the discovery of the New World. Despite his importance in history, most Americans had never heard of him. The fact that his personal life was so complex, and in some ways tragic, made him all the more compelling as a character.

My initial question, with regard to Santangel, was: What could possibly motivate such an astute and well-grounded courtier to take the risks associated with supporting Columbus’s voyage, even when the preponderance of scholarly opinion found no merit in Columbus’s ideas? After researching Santangel’s life, I came to feel that Columbus’s dream must have represented a prayer of hope for Santangel, uttered from the murky depths of a world whirling into chaos.

The Luis de Santangel of my story, like most of my characters, is closely based on the historical individual. He really did have a cousin who was murdered by the Spanish Inquisition. His son did have to pay penance in much the way I described. Santangel was accused of murdering the first Chief Inquisitor of Aragon. King Ferdinand did intervene to save him from the consequences of that accusation. Columbus really did write first to Santangel, following his 1492 voyage.

Santangel’s love interest, Judith Migdal, I invented to show the condition of the Jews in Granada leading up to the expulsion. But her nephew, Levi Migdal (later baptized as Luis de Torres) was Columbus’s interpreter on the Santa Maria. As Columbus describes him in his diaries, he was a Jew who spoke Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew, as well as Spanish, so it is likely he grew up in the Islamic emirate of Granada.

4. You clearly did a lot of research into the period. Did you learn anything that surprised you? Was there something particularly interesting or unusual that you learned, that didn’t make its way into your book?

I learned so many surprising things, among them the aforementioned fact that the Spanish Inquisition was unique in its focus on the “judaizing” heresy among conversos. It was interesting to me to learn that the pope did not initially authorize the Spanish inquisition, and indeed continued to express qualms about it even after it was established. As I researched Queen Isabella, I came to the conclusion that she was a usurper, although most history books gloss over that fact. It would take me much more than another whole book to describe everything I had to leave out.

5. What do you want your readers to take away in terms of an understanding about converso Jews and Jewish culture of the period? What lessons can be drawn from the book?

Regarding the conversos: I like Santangel’s question, “what is the advantage of knowing, with absolute certainty, what one believes? There’s much to be said for doubt.” This intrusion of doubt into the medieval world – a world of certainties, at least with regard to faith – marked the beginning of the process that would lead to the Enlightenment, the Existential age, and our current age which, in my view, is evolving toward mutual respect between the faiths. Karen Armstrong credits conversos with the invention of atheism.

Regarding “lessons:” What I want most of all is not to preach but for my readers to feel that their sojourn in the world of my novel has been a valuable and enriching experience.

A good novel, in my view, is an experience of language, of characters, of complexity and nuance. The best novels evoke an entire world. Like real life, a good novel teems with ambiguity, connotation, and subtlety.

For this reason, I was thrilled to discover that many of my Christian readers identified Luis de Santangel as a Christian facing a crisis of faith, while many of my Jewish readers felt he was a Jew. Similarly, some of my readers asked why I made Torquemada so “human,” as if I were trying to vindicate him, while others saw him as a psychopathic villain. When I receive a wide range of responses like that, I feel I have succeeded in at least one of my aims: to faithfully hold a mirror to a complex world.

Within that complex world, there is room for a Torquemada (whom I see as sincere and intelligent but misguided) as well as a Caceres (whose understanding of Christ’s message of love and forgiveness seems to be more aligned with our own) and a Talavera (a man of contradictions, moderate and analytical). The Islamic rulers of Granada can be seen as protective (from Judith’s point of view) or ruthless (from the point of view of Sarah’s mother). The Jewish scribe Serero is sincere, but causes great damage to those who trust him.

Mr. Kaplan, thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions and best of luck with your terrific book! 

Other Posts in Other Press Week:

• Publisher Spotlight on Other Press: Introduction,
• Sunday: Interview with Publisher Judith Gurewich,
• Monday: Review of The Wrong Blood, by Manuel de Lope,
• Tuesday: Review of The Debba, by Avner Mandelman,
• Wednesday: Interview with Avner Mandelman,
• Thursday: Review of By Fire, By Water, by Mitchell James Kaplan.

Publisher Spotlight Other Press: REVIEW- By Fire, By Water, by Mitchell James Kaplan

By Fire, By Water, by Mitchell James Kaplan. Published 2010 by Other Press. Literary Fiction.

Mitchell James Kaplan's novel By Fire, By Water is an absorbing and engaging work of historical fiction about the conversos of Inquisition-era Spain- conversos being Jews who converted to Christianity (Catholicism) and either may or may not continue to practice Judaism in secret.

At this time, the Catholic Church was a powerful political and military as well as spiritual force, and allegiance to the Pope was as much about ensuring one's physical safety as it was about what one believed in; Jews in many countries were persecuted, uprooted or forcibly converted, and those who refused could suffer for it if their government didn't protect them. By Fire, By Water focuses on one such converso, Luis de Santangel, a real historical figure of medieval Spain and confidant of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella; he was also pivotal in convincing them to support Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage.

This story covers more personal ground. Santangel starts to struggle with identity as a Christian and wants to reconnect with his Judaism and Jewish culture; to this end he starts to cast about for others like him who might be able to provide a sense of community or just a place to practice a little, however secretly. But during the Inquisition this kind of thing could bring serious consequences for not only the practitioner but the practitioner's family, and it's not long before Santangel, his son and his brother begin to feel pressured. But not all Jews live under this close scrutiny; others, like silversmith Judith Migdal, are protected and can live openly. Santangel is captivated by Migdal and they have a relationship; she is a strong and appealing woman who I wish I'd seen more of in the book. As the story progresses, Kaplan shows us how these forces come together and affect Santangel's family, for better and for worse.

By Fire, By Water is very good historical fiction. Kaplan's research shows without calling attention to itself, and the fictionalized aspects of the story flow well. I liked his depictions of different kinds of Jews- those practicing openly, those practicing secretly, and those who don't even know that they're practicing- and seeing the Jewish characters interacting with their Muslim and Christian neighbors. Kaplan creates a vivid community peopled by varied characters of different social strata and backgrounds. If you read and enjoyed any of Maggie Anton's Rashi's Daughters series you'll find  yourself on familiar ground. The writing is florid and highly descriptive but not overmuch; Kaplan strikes a good balance between the era he's writing about and the era he's writing for. I'd recommend it to readers of historical fiction and Jewish books, and anyone who likes a good story well told.

Come back tomorrow for my interview with Kaplan, the final installment in this week about Other Press!

RATING: Backlist

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

Posts in Other Press Week:

• Publisher Spotlight on Other Press: Introduction,
• Sunday: Interview with Publisher Judith Gurewich,
• Monday: Review of The Wrong Blood, by Manuel de Lope,
• Tuesday: Review of The Debba, by Avner Mandelman,
• Wednesday: Interview with Avner Mandelman,
• Thursday: Review of By Fire, By Water, by Mitchell James Kaplan.
• Friday: Interview with Mitchell James Kaplan

Publisher Spotlight Other Press: Interview with Avner Mandelman

Today's entry in the Other Press Publisher Spotlight series is an interview with Avner Mandelman, author of the Giller Prize-nominated novel The Debba. See my review here and the intro post to the series here.

1. The story you tell in THE DEBBA mixes politics, romance, myth and even magic. There are issues around Jewish identity and assimilation as well as the Arab-Israeli conflict and it all comes together at the end with the revelation of shocking secrets and betrayals. What inspired you to write this story?

The story’s beginning came to me on the third day of the Yom Kippur War (I was then living in Vancouver, Canada), as I saw on TV Israeli jet planes exploding and Israeli tanks bursting into flames, with my friends in them. I escaped to a nearby park in great distress, and the opening pages of the book then came to me -- I still have no idea from where -- and I wrote them down in a white heat. Then the flow stopped, and over the next eighteen years, as I got married, had children, got an MBA degree, and worked in the market, I kept trying to dig out the story, but it was clear to me I did not know how to write fiction. So finally in 1991 I closed my house in Toronto, took my then-wife and two toddlers and decamped to California to the Bay Area, to learn how to write fiction. It took a while. I got an MA in CW, finished the book, got an agent, published some story collections, and returned to Canada. After many rejections, last year, thirty six years after the first words were written, the book was finally accepted by a publisher. And yes, the ending shocked me too when I wrote it…

2. The main character, David, a burnt-out Israeli military assassin, has to return to Israel from Canada after the death of his father, who asks him posthumously to stage a play called THE DEBBA. It seems like a very unusual request and puts David in the role of a creator. Why does his father make this request? What impact does it have on David?

David’s father asks him to perform the play as an oblique way of telling David his destiny, and what he must do. The story is structured as a monomyth, the classical “hero’s return,” as identified by Joseph Campbell. It usually involves a hero of mysterious origins who had left his people and who suddenly receives a message from his ancestor (or his God or gods) to perform a task. This task goes against his grain and so he at first refuses, but after a while he does it; and as he performs it, he gets deeper and deeper into trouble, passes through a vale of shadows where he must perform ever harder tasks, until at the end he must perform the one task that changes him and renders him whole, and reveals to him his destiny, thereby helping his people. This in essence is the structure of all the enduring myths— Moses, Jason, Jesus, or modern ones like Hamlet, Star Wars’ Luke Skywalker, etc. So David must stage the play and go through the investigation in order to find out what his father really wanted.

3. In an interview you did for Other Press you talk about the violent reactions people have to the play in the book, that "normal people kill and are killed for fictions." Do you think that art can still have that power even in a cynical age like ours?

That’s an excellent question. The “fictions” in the book for which “normal people kill and are killed” are not Art, but scriptures, religions, ideologies, and other books of “holy” fictions. All around him David sees otherwise sane people who casually accept “holy fictional fables” as perfectly good reasons to kill strangers who believe in other fictional stories, or as good reasons to be killed themselves. It is the casual acceptance of “holy fictions” as a valid reason for killing that horrifies him.

As for whether art can still have this power even in a cynical age like ours, the answer is, of course, yes. Every day people still kill or are killed for the sake of “holy” poetic fictions such as the Old and New Testaments or the Koran, and for the sake of their fictive protagonists. Clearly, then, skillfully composed fictions can raise intense emotions which even in this modern age have the power to unleash death and destruction.

Now, any good novel makes the readers enter into a trance that temporarily makes them forget their everyday reality. But exceptionally well-structured language in “holy” art can hypnotize many into life-long trances. They then come to believe that what the stories tell them about— 72 Virgins in paradise, or the Messiah and Resurrection, or Hell and Damnation, or Pearly Gates— is more real than what their senses tell them, and, what’s worse, are perfectly good reasons to kill and be killed.

In my novel, I hope that, for a brief time, Good Art can be seen to counteract the perniciousness of “holy” Art (a.k.a. in the novel as “God’s Mein Kampf”).

4. One reviewer compared THE DEBBA to an "M.C. Escher-like structure...doubling back on [itself]." To me it was like a layer cake of secrets, symbols and hidden agendas. How do you see the book?

Another very good question. Yes, there are some symbols in the book, but it’s up to the reader to find them... As for hidden agendas, there aren’t any. I’m merely trying to tell a good story. As far as the reviewer’s reference to structure, the Western monomyth is only half of it. The other half is the Moslem End of Days myth, so that the book in essence has two overlapping myths. The father’s request (from beyond the grave) both starts the Western-type hero on his journey-of-return, and launches the Eastern-type hero on his journey to the End-of-Days. In addition, there are three time periods: The past, the present, and the play, in each of which the same characters re-appear. These three parallel stories, and the repetition of actions in different forms, are meant to give the novel reverberations beyond the straight story.

5. The Booklist review says the book "reveal[s] the paradoxes of Israeli life." What were you trying to show about Israel through the way you portray the country in THE DEBBA?

I tried to convey Israel’s smells, sights, tastes, and feeling of tightly-confined communal living, in a place where everyone knows everyone else, and where soldier / citizens must take hard actions during their army service to keep life going.

Indeed, if there’s any theme in the book, it is that of necessary evil. As I’ve said elsewhere, most of us conveniently prefer to forget that necessary evil is often the price of civilized life. If we want to eat cow’s meat, someone must be the butcher. But what if we see cow-killing as evil? We still want our steak. What then is to be done with the butcher? This can provide a rich vein for a novelist: how much necessary evil can be allowed by a civilized society, and what is to be done with those who perform the tasks we cannot admit are necessary? Or, worse, who defines what’s necessary for whom, and why? All these are hard questions without straight answers, just the kind novelists find useful to make a book unputdownable and unforgettable. If, that is, they can resist the twin temptations of providing answers or engaging in polemics…

Mr. Mandelman, thank you so much taking the time to answer my questions. I hope lots of people decide to read your fantastic book.

Posts in Other Press Week: 

• Publisher Spotlight on Other Press: Introduction,
• Sunday: Interview with Publisher Judith Gurewich,
• Monday: Review of The Wrong Blood, by Manuel de Lope,
• Tuesday: Review of The Debba, by Avner Mandelman,
• Wednesday: Interview with Avner Mandelman,
• Thursday: Review of By Fire, By Water, by Mitchell James Kaplan.
• Friday: Interview with Mitchell James Kaplan

Publisher Spotlight Other Press: REVIEW- The Debba, by Avner Mandelman

The Debba, by Avner Mandelman. Published 2010 by Other Press. Fiction. Crime Fiction.

Nominated this year for Canada's prestigious Giller Prize, Avner Mandelman's novel The Debba is a web of contradictions. A tight thriller about messy relationships and an unresolved past, it's the story of David Starkman, an Israeli who's emigrated to Canada, renounced his Israeli citizenship and tried to leave his former life behind. But it's all brought back in a flash when his father is found murdered in his Jerusalem shoe shop and David must return to Israel to confront his, and his father's demons.

First, he must deal with the fact of his father's death and murder; compelled to solve the murder and convinced that it's tied to his father's past in the Israeli army and his relationship with an enigmatic figure known as "the Debba," an Arab hero who disappeared after David's father captures him, David immerses himself in his father's story. In folk lore, a debba is a mythical hyena who can turn into a man;  it's also the title of a play David's father has written and which he insists in his will David must produce in order to inherit. The play has only been performed once before, when it caused a near-riot, and David must endure physical threats, the anger of his friends and even the opposition of the police and military to put the play on.

His return to Israel also puts him in the sphere of Ruthie, the woman he left behind (and his best friend's fiancée)- and their passion is reignited with animal ferocity. David also must uncover secret after secret about his father, his father's work and the mysterious Debba himself. In the end David has to ask himself searing questions about his identity and his future. But there is a lot standing in his way- powerful forces that want him to leave the past alone.

Politically The Debba does not take sides but rather forces the reader to ask questions and re-examine his or her own beliefs. I found the book's politics fascinating and complex. Other themes treated in the book include assimilation and Jewish identity and the meaning of inheritance. Mandelman's writing throughout is brisk and punchy. Israel is presented as a chaotic landscape where human behavior operates at a basic animal level. Nobody simply talks; people hiss and snarl and spit, and love is something brutish and wild. Literature and poetry can bring people together in unexpected ways in this hostile universe, and hide a lifetime's worth of secrets.

I found The Debba to be an irresistible literary pageturner and I'd recommend it to readers interested in Israel and contemporary Jewish writing that doesn't offer easy answers or pat reassurances.  It's not a book for everyone but I think if you do decide to give it a go, it'll draw you in and keep you reading right till the end.

Come back tomorrow for an interview with The Debba author Avner Mandelman.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

Posts in Other Press Week:

• Publisher Spotlight on Other Press: Introduction,
• Sunday: Interview with Publisher Judith Gurewich,
• Monday: Review of The Wrong Blood, by Manuel de Lope,
• Tuesday: Review of The Debba, by Avner Mandelman,
• Wednesday: Interview with Avner Mandelman,
• Thursday: Review of By Fire, By Water, by Mitchell James Kaplan.
• Friday: Interview with Mitchell James Kaplan

Publisher Spotlight Other Press: REVIEW- The Wrong Blood, by Manuel de Lope

The Wrong Blood, by Manuel de Lope. Published by Other Press, 2010. Literary fiction. Translated from the Spanish.

The Wrong Blood is a luminous, marvelous novel from Spanish writer Manuel de Lope, about secrets, women and war, and what people will do to recapture their lost love and lost innocence.

Set during and after the Spanish Civil War, The Wrong Blood is the story of two women. Maria Antonia Extarri is a working-class girl, daughter of a bar owner, who is raped by a group of visiting soldiers; she's sent out to work in a series of large homes. A smart girl and a quick study, she learns a full set of domestic skills. When her baby is born she leaves her employer and settles in the home of wealthy widow Isabel Cruces, whose husband and great love has died during the war, executed as a traitor.  Years later, Isabel's grandson Miguel returns to the family home to study for law exams. Isabel has died left the house and all her money to Maria, who runs it like a solitary fiefdom. The local doctor, an older man well acquainted with the family, tries to befriend the young law student. Little by little, through the doctor's narration, we learn the family's sad history and the secret that binds the two women.

Beautifully written, very moving and very tender, The Wrong Blood is a character-driven and atmospheric story of full-blooded characters with complex psyches and drives. It will remind many readers of the rich family chronicles and passionate love stories of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and even has some of the gothic elements of Carlos Ruiz Zafon. The sequence detailing Isabel's childbirth and delivery in an iconic dark and stormy night is almost a ghost story,  harrowing and vivid. The story of Isabel's marriage and widowhood are lovely and sad. The doctor's own stories and memories add a fascinating layer of tragedy and bittersweet irony, and Isabel's protean personality adds an unpredictable variable to the story.

The Wrong Blood is definitely a must-read for literary readers and is recommended also for readers interested in historical fiction, Spanish fiction and the fiction of war. (This edition includes a helpful introduction elucidating the basic facts of the war.) Even though very little of the story takes place on the battlefield, it's still about people whose lives are turned upside down by war in one way or another. It's also about class and the privileges afforded to and taken away from people, women especially, at different levels of society, and the things one has to live with and without. Maria and Isabel are enigmatic people, their inner lives held at a distance; this sense of remoteness makes the story all the more moving since the reader has to use his or her own empathy and imagination to understand them. It's a lovely book, literary fiction at a very high level and well worth the effort to read.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for review from Other Press.

Posts in Other Press Week:

• Publisher Spotlight on Other Press: Introduction,
• Sunday: Interview with Publisher Judith Gurewich,
• Monday: Review of The Wrong Blood, by Manuel de Lope,
• Tuesday: Review of The Debba, by Avner Mandelman,
• Wednesday: Interview with Avner Mandelman,
• Thursday: Review of By Fire, By Water, by Mitchell James Kaplan.
• Friday: Interview with Mitchell James Kaplan

Publisher Spotlight on Other Press: Interview with Judith Gurewich, Publisher of Other Press

Today is the first in a series of six posts spotlighting the fantastic Other Press, a small publisher of literary fiction and important nonfiction. See the intro post here. I had the privilege of conducting a brief interview with the Publisher, Judith Gurewich, about the company and the kinds of books it publishes:

1.  When did Other Press start? What's the company's background? What's its mission? How has it changed or grown over the years? 

Other Press started off by publishing books on various psychoanalytic schools, with a particular focus on the works of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. However, over the years it shifted to literary fiction in translation, political nonfiction books, and memoirs. Today Other Press is doing exclusively literary fiction and nonfiction, from here and abroad.  

2. What kinds of books does Other Press publish? When a reader sees the Other Press logo on a book, what can he or she expect? 

Literature. In other words: books that needed to be written.

3. What's your favorite Other Press book? Is there something particularly special to you personally, or a book that comes with an unusual or particularly memorable story?

Mr. Toppit by Charles Elton sold 100,000 copies in England before I turned it down. It was good, I thought, but not good enough. But the author was willing to work on it with me. He flew from London, lived in my house, and we worked until the book was perfect. This is unusual enough in the publishing world today.  The Wrong Blood by Manuel de Lope, one of the most exquisite literary works I’ve ever published, also has a story attached. I wrote about it in the latest Other Press newsletter.  It is rather uncanny.

4. I've noticed that while Other Press doesn't specifically specialize in Judaica, Other Press has published a number of wonderful Jewish books, especially in the last year or so, like THE DEBBA, BY FIRE, BY WATER and THE WITNESS HOUSE. What does Other Press look for when it comes to Judaica?

This is a great question!  I love the kind of Jewish literature that goes against the grain, that speaks of resilience, of heart, of compassion, and that adamantly refuses to play the victim. One of the most remarkable books in that vein is The Woman from Hamburg by Hanna Krall. But I also publish books by Jewish authors that are thoughtful about Israeli history and wary of what the country has become.

5. Can you give our readers a little sneak preview of some of the books out now and coming next year that you're particularly excited about?

The book I am most excited about this season, apart from Mr. Toppit and The Wrong Blood, is How To Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer.  The author did in this book what few intellectuals can: she explains and entertains all at once. It is a masterpiece and probably the best nonfiction book I’ve ever had the luck to publish. 

Ms. Gurewich, thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions! It was an honor to have to chance to interview you. I look forward to reading even more from Other Press in the future!

Stay tuned to Boston Bibliophile all week for reviews of Other Press books and interviews with Other Press authors. Thank you to Terrie Akers and Other Press for help with this week's features!

Posts in Other Press Week:

• Publisher Spotlight on Other Press: Introduction,
• Sunday: Interview with Publisher Judith Gurewich,
• Monday: Review of The Wrong Blood, by Manuel de Lope,
• Tuesday: Review of The Debba, by Avner Mandelman,
• Wednesday: Interview with Avner Mandelman,
• Thursday: Review of By Fire, By Water, by Mitchell James Kaplan.
• Friday: Interview with Mitchell James Kaplan

Publisher Spotlight on Other Press: Introduction

Tomorrow is the launch of my first Publisher Spotlight series, featuring the wonderful Other Press. All week (Sunday through Friday) of next week I'll be featuring reviews and interviews focused on Other Press. Here's the schedule:

• Sunday: Interview with Publisher Judith Gurewich,
• Monday: Review of The Wrong Blood, by Manuel de Lope,
• Tuesday: Review of The Debba, by Avner Mandelman,
• Wednesday: Interview with Avner Mandelman,
• Thursday: Review of By Fire, By Water, by Mitchell James Kaplan,
• Friday: Interview with Mitchell James Kaplan.

So I hope you'll come by and check out these features. I'm really excited to be doing this and I want to give a big thank-you to Gurewich, Mandelman, Kaplan and everyone at Other Press who helped me out, especially publicist Terrie Akers and editor Katie Henderson.


Additionally, I've reviewed two other Other Press books, both by author Atiq Rahimi:

• The Patience Stone, winner of the Prix Goncourt, and
• Earth and Ashes.

They put on a great event at Harvard University with Rahimi  and the PEN World Voices Festival.

You can visit Other Press at their website and follow them on Twitter (@otherpress). Hope to see you tomorrow and during the week!