Acclaimed writer Yiyun Li returns to the amusement to speech astir her caller novel, Music Against the Night, with co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. Li explains however she archetypal became funny successful fictionalizing the lives of joined musicians John Field and Adelaide Percheron and reflects connected the limits, challenges, and opportunities of conducting humanities probe for fiction. She discusses the relation grandparents play successful her characters’ lives and however older mentors tin signifier an artist’s idiosyncratic and nonrecreational growth. She besides shares however she chose to operation 2 wide-ranging beingness stories wrong 1 novel, and however her characters exemplify disparities successful accidental among arsenic talented peers. Li considers however her characters specify nonaccomplishment and success, and however these definitions impact John and Adelaide, neither of whom execute fame. She reads from Music Against the Night.
To perceive the afloat episode, subscribe done iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, oregon your favourite podcast app (include the guardant slashes erstwhile searching). You tin besides perceive by streaming from the subordinate below. Check retired video versions of our interviews connected the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our amusement website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, Emily Farris, and Sydney Perkins.
Yiyun Li
Music Against the Night • Encountering the Past successful “Music Against the Night” | The New Yorker • Things successful Nature Merely Grow • The Book of Goose • Wednesday’s Child • Must I Go • Where Reasons End • Kinder Than Solitude • Gold Boy, Emerald Girl • The Vagrants • A Thousand Years of Good Prayers • Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You successful Your Life
Others
A Life and Times: Fryderyk Chopin | Dr Alan Walker • A Confession and Other Religious Writings | Leo Tolstoy • Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5, Episode 42: Yiyun Li connected Complicated Friendships Real and Imagined
EXCERPT FROM A CONVERSATION WITH YIYUN LI
V. V. Ganeshananthan: [Regarding] probe that you’ve done, John Field is simply a existent person. So is Adelaide Percheron, besides known arsenic Percherette. So, what brought these humanities characters to your attention? I cognize you mentioned Tolstoy. When did you recognize that these were the radical you wanted to constitute about?
Yiyun Li : I conscionable did benignant of a agelong reflection connected that process. So I did conscionable John Field successful Tolstoy’s autobiography, and John Field was Tolstoy’s mother’s euphony master. And erstwhile I was speechmaking the biography, I did not cognize John Field. It’s precise unusual erstwhile you work a Russian novel, a Russian book, and each of a sudden, you tally into an Anglicized name: John Field. I person ne'er known John Field. The Irish are acquainted with John Field, but extracurricular Ireland, I deliberation John Field is not a known name. So I did a small research, work a precise slim biography, fractional of which was conscionable philharmonic scores. And I deliberation what funny maine was that Percherette, successful the biography, lone appeared a fewer times. Maybe nary much than 5 passages. So Percherette, she’s the wife. She’s an important artist, but she was hardly mentioned successful the biography. So I thought Percherette would, for sure, marque a bully novel. And truthful the information that I thought Percherette and John would marque a bully caller together—that’s wherever it started. And intelligibly 1 caller is not agelong capable to enactment everything in, truthful we conscionable said, “Well, 3 novels. Why not?”
Whitney Terrell: So you’ve decided that. That’s a settled deal? Have you already started connected the others?
YL: Yes, I’m halfway done the 2nd novel, and, due to the fact that arsenic you said, successful this caller we did spot them successful their matrimony briefly. We did spot them dice some of their deaths. But astir of the caller is astir their puerility and youths. So, it’s a precise accepted form. A three-book form: puerility (even Tolstoy’s childhood), youth, adulthood. So, I conscionable borrowed that signifier and thought I would bash 3 novels astir childhood/youth, adulthood, death.
WT: I was going to inquire you: This caller is mostly astir their youths moving parallel to each different earlier they meet. So you’re conscionable reasoning astir it arsenic a larger work?
YL: Yes, their existent matrimony and their creator pursuit. I deliberation that’s important for me. This publication is conscionable their upbringing, and they’re increasing up to go musicians, and they person to beryllium existent musicians.
WT: There’s a batch much accusation astir John Field than Adelaide. So, however did you find retired accusation astir her?
YL: There’s nary accusation to beryllium recovered astir her. It’s each successful my head.
WT: Oh, that’s the best.
YL: It’s each made up astir this person. It’s precise funny. In John Field’s biography, I said determination were lone 5 mentions of her. There was 1 comic notation saying ‘she is simply a flirtatious young woman.’ So the modern of John Field said, ‘Now if you acceptable a apical chapeau implicit a stick, that’s capable for this young pistillate to commencement flirting.’
And I conscionable thought, that’s a precise bully statement of a young woman. But for me, it’s conscionable due to the fact that determination was thing astir her anywhere. We did not cognize thing astir her. Just to deliberation astir the trajectory of her beingness coming from Pondicherry, adjacent conscionable arsenic a young pistillate traveling from Pondicherry each the mode to Moscow. That’s an epic novel.
Percherette’s contemporaries are the characters successful Jane Austen’s novels, and those girls conscionable unrecorded successful their location and sometimes spell to the nextdoor neighbor’s home. Once successful a while, they question to Bath oregon London. Now that’s the modern satellite they are sharing. So I conscionable thought Pesharet is epic successful that way—that she’s surviving this beingness that’s wholly overseas to astir women her age. And I deliberation that’s capable for a novel.
VVG: So erstwhile you’re reasoning astir doing the research—and close maine if I’m incorrect here—[you’ve talked about] probe and the ways successful which you question to bounds it, due to the fact that you don’t privation it to [in a sense] instrumentality over. Sometimes, due to the fact that it’s time-consuming. I’ve had a pupil punctuation this backmost to maine from you. They say, “Yiyun Li says!” And well, it’s truthful absorbing to perceive you say, ‘You know, if you privation to constitute 3 novels astir the piano, you person to instrumentality piano.” And this publication is truthful infused with the cautious cognition of idiosyncratic who has acceptable their fingers to the keyboard—the favoring of the 4th digit oregon what person you. So, you chose to instrumentality soft for 3 years, but you presumably did not undertake an epic travel from Pondicherry to Moscow. Where bash you gully the line?
YL: That’s a precise bully question and Sugi, I indispensable correct. I deliberation your students whitethorn person quoted maine wrong.
VVG: [Gasps audibly.] Are you listening, children?
YL: I’m reasonably definite I was quoting Edward P. Jones. Because I retrieve Edward P. Jones, erstwhile helium talked astir researching for The Known World, helium said helium checked retired each these books from the library, but helium did not work a azygous publication due to the fact that helium realized everything was successful his brain. He said, “If you constitute 1 happening incorrect astir this county, everybody volition travel to accidental you got the past wrong.” And helium said, “Why not conscionable marque up a region myself?” So I deliberation I mightiness person conscionable quoted Edward P. Jones.
WT: I’ve heard him accidental that.
YL: Yes, I bash a batch of research, but learning to play soft is simply a large concern successful research. And reading, arsenic you said, wherever bash I gully the line? Even if I spell to Pondicherry today, I would not person seen Pondicherry successful Percherette’s time.
WT: Sure.
YL: Even if I question there, I’m not traveling by boat, right? And present we fly. So I deliberation it’s adjuvant that I work a batch of writings done by her contemporaries. I would work an English woman’s travelogue from England each the mode to India, similar astir the Cape successful 1800 oregon 1801, truthful precisely the aforesaid time. And past you get to spot the things done the locals’ eyes oregon done the times. When I bash research, I seldom work contemporaries’ penning astir the past due to the fact that those are digested accusation and summarized, and I usually conscionable spell for books cipher reads. I person gone done galore books cipher has ever heard of. For instance, the instrumentalist knew a small music, and his biggest bragging constituent was helium had tuned much bells successful his religion than anybody else. So you conscionable work those radical and spot what euphony meant for radical astatine that time. So that’s my research. Always conscionable work aged books. I must—I must!—correct the grounds due to the fact that I’ve done truthful overmuch research.
Transcribed by Otter.ai. Condensed and edited by Emily Farris. Photograph of Yiyun Li by Hannah Yoon.
English (US) ·