Deborah Rose
asked
Janet Fitch:
What inspired you to go back 100 years in time to write your current novel? It will be a departure from your recent novels which take place in a modern setting.
Janet Fitch
Hi Deborah!
I majored in history, I love going back and trying to recreate the experience of life in a very different time as well as place. To find how people were similar to us and how they were different, and what those times have to say about our own. I had a novel between White Oleander and Paint It Black which didn't work out, but a character from that book stuck with me, and I wanted to write her in the 1920's, a Russian emigre. A very complex person. But I found I didn't know enough about her, her dreams, her memories. I had to go back to the Revolution to understand her. Thanks for the question! Best wishes, Janet
I majored in history, I love going back and trying to recreate the experience of life in a very different time as well as place. To find how people were similar to us and how they were different, and what those times have to say about our own. I had a novel between White Oleander and Paint It Black which didn't work out, but a character from that book stuck with me, and I wanted to write her in the 1920's, a Russian emigre. A very complex person. But I found I didn't know enough about her, her dreams, her memories. I had to go back to the Revolution to understand her. Thanks for the question! Best wishes, Janet
More Answered Questions
Vladimir
asked
Janet Fitch:
Dear Mrs. Fitch, I would not ask you about your internal connections to St. Peterburg arising from your study in this amazing city and from your visit in 2007: it is a needless question. I spent my student's years from 1964 till 1969 in Leningrad and could guess your positive answer. To be a little bit more specific: Have you found some shades and spirits of Dostoyevsky there?
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