One of the most read and beloved novelists across the globe, with over 38 million copies of his books sold in more than 70 countries, Khaled Hosseini speaks to ANANYA BORGOHAIN, and shares about his glorious journey that started more than 11 years back and contemplates how it has changed him at the same time

Khaled Hosseini left Afghanistan when he was 11, but a sense of belonging towards the country evokes itself in his poignant and powerful stories which he weaves with effortless mastery. He now lives in the United States with his wife and two children and is also a Goodwill Envoy for the UNHCR (the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). The struggles of his native land still linger within him, and he conveys the same for his Western readers in his bestselling works. His debut, The Kite Runner, was a remarkable story about the friendship between an aristocratic boy and his father’s servant’s son, set against the backdrop of Afghanistan’s history and political turmoil. It is said to have stayed in The New York Times bestselling list for 103 weeks. His second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, narrated the journey of Mariam and laila, two women “born a generation apart and with different ideas about love and family, brought jarringly together by war, loss and fate”. His wonderfully crafted third novel, And the Mountains Echoed (Bloomsbury) begins in 1952 and crosses over almost 60 years of Afghan history. This riveting saga of a brother and sister probes the soul with both questions and hollow scars that reverberate through generations. Nominated for the DSC Prize for South Asian literature 2015, the latest paperback cover for the novel is all set to release on December 26, 2014. In an exclusive interview, the author reflects upon how he writes and perceives the grander issues in life:

The sense of sadness in your stories is keen, the grief is gripping. All of your stories pierce deep into the hearts of your readers. Do you think that hope, utopia and catharsis are impossible to attainIJ

I think the world is in a hopelessly compromised state. Utopia is an ideal. Not that we should stop hoping but hope is not necessarily a utopian ideal. Hope is an indispensable human attribute, it’s relentless and what keeps forward the status quo. All my books entail a sense of happiness that is weighed down by reality and hope brings in a sense of tranquility, albeit compromised, but an important one.

So, should you choose to write a novel with a happy ending for a change, do you think you would be able to bring yourself to write and justify itIJ

I think if you “bring yourself to write” something, there is instantly an element of artifice attached to it. I wouldn’t write with fixed, far-reaching ideas in mind or with a pre-conceived schema. My works are initiated from a moving, deeply personal space, and they bring out a human angle, and then it grows from there. All of my novels, though travelling through sadness, end with a note of hope. Hope or happiness, not in, say, terms of how Bollywood may define it but it is how I have come to understand the world. That many a time, it is a matter of give and take. Every dark cloud has a silver lining, and vice versa.

Is there also any personal stressor in the poignant portrayals or the turn of events in your worksIJ

Oh well, it starts from vacuum. You imagine a character and its life may be very different from yours so it falls on you as to how you may sketch it up, close and personal. Some detach themselves from the character while some may attach themselves to the same. It could also be about yourself, about the way you understand something or perceive it. For instance, The Kite Runner had quite a bit of my personal life in it. It sure was a fictional story with fictional characters but certainly there were impressions which were personal for me too. like, how it was like to grow up in an upper class in Kabul are experiences I have had. But subsequently I have also relied less in my personal life in the other books. A Thousand Splendid Suns grew bigger than what I had initially imagined it to be.

The titles of your books are both poetic and thought provoking at the same time. How do you finalise a titleIJ

The Kite Runner was actually a title even before it could be a book. Given the plot of the novel, I think it was fairly obvious that it should be named so. For the subsequent books, A Thousand Splendid Suns and And the Mountains Echoed, I ended up finding the titles in poetry. The former was derived from a poem by Saib-e-Tabrizi, a 17th century Persian poet. And the Mountains Echoed, on the other hand, was derived from a poem by William Blake’s Nurse’s Song from Songs of Innocence which has the phrase, “And all the hills echoed” as its closing line.

You left Afghanistan when you were very young. But your works are vivid and effectively full of Afghan culture and characteristics. How do you imagine the mundane Afghan landscapeIJ

Well, I was 11 when we left Afghanistan and I have travelled to the country after that too. I could say I have a vivid repertoire of memory. Even when you grow up in an upper class aristocratic family, you see the poverty around you, as one does in India too. lot of characters I have written about are who I have seen in real life as well. And also, I travelled extensively in Afghanistan in 2011 and am very familiar with the way of life there.

So when you went there in 2011, what changes did you see in the contemporary Afghan landscapeIJ

It has indeed changed a lot. For instance, Kabul, in the past would have around 5000 people but it is now incredibly crowded. It’s more vibrant. The country has been through a lot, particularly the War and the infiltration of guns in the daily space but there has been so much growth as well. It has changed in some really good ways too; there is so much technology now and awareness through social media.

Tell us about the literature being produced from Afghanistan.

I might not be the right person to comment on the literature that is being produced in the country because I don’t read it much, unless the book releases here. But as far as I know, a lot of indigenous literature that I have read revolves around lives under the presence of the Taliban or during the War. It also revolves around women’s rights. Some of the poetry that is coming up, a lot of them are written by young Afghan women who are writing about the circumstances of women in the last 30 years, particularly under the Taliban. Those were the times when women were prohibited from working or educating. That’s a major issue in Afghanistan and it is hence not surprising that they would find a channel through the native literary practices.

How does your American readers respond to your workIJ Do they see you as an American writer or you are a part of the Afghan literary milieu for themIJ

I think for most of my Western readers, I offer a window for them to the country they know so little about. They read about the lives, struggles and the spirits of the people there. They enjoy my books for the story and the drama that they entail but at the same they also see it as an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the truth of the land of Afghanistan. I wanted to tell my Western readers that Afghanistan is not confined only to the war against the Soviets, the Taliban and repression. The country was not always like that.

America plays an important role in your novel, more in the form of a saviour. What does America mean to you personallyIJ

It is my second home and I have lived here for a long time now. But I have also grown up in an Afghan ambience, so I consider myself a bit of a hybrid. For me, they are two sides of the same coin and are not in conflict with each other. But on the other hand, I never felt the two sides of my identity more vividly than on 9/11. On one hand, in my first response was that I felt the typical American horror of the catastrophe and then when I saw the America-led war on Afghanistan post 9/11, it took on a whole other dimension and I felt a concern towards Afghanistan amidst the geo-political crises. But my sentiments towards both countries are largely organic.

More recently, from the perspective of the Israel-Palestine conflict, did America’s support of Israel dampen your spirits or did you tend to be a critical insider in that caseIJ

This conflict is very old and very alive. I, for one, gave up a long while ago to evaluate who is right and who is wrong. I have let it go. This conflict is ancient and I don’t question people’s respective stands anymore. I think the right question is, how do we bring in a resolution to itIJ

What kind of narrative techniques do you like to employ in your novelsIJ Is there a preferred theme without which you would not write a story at allIJ

I always start about an idea, a story or a character. I don’t start with a scene. And I have realised that as I begin writing, the theme begins to expand and I begin to explore larger issues as I complete the first draft. And the story tends to become a book about memory, happiness or a sense of belonging. And once I recognise that, I highlight it in the subsequent track. I never start with a scene and construct a story around it. It is actually the other way around.

It has been more than a decade since your debut The Kite Runner was launched. Do you read it today, and if you do, how has your thinking changed in the last 11 yearsIJ

That’s a really good question to contemplate actually. I don’t read my previous books as a rule but I had to read from The Kite Runner at an auction of its first edition. I had to go back and read it, something I had not done in many, many years.

So I was reading it and it was like hearing an echo of an older version of myself. It was sort of a mixed experience. In the hindsight, I felt like patting myself on the back and saying, “Well done!” but at the same time, you also feel like redoing it, re-editing it. There was also a perpetual impulse to correct. And I think it’s natural; when you grow older, circumstances change, you and your perspectives change as well.

Are you an avid readerIJ Any contemporary writer whom you followIJ

I do read and immensely enjoy it. There are some writers whom I would read more than once because I may like something about their style or ideas. I always read whatever Jhumpa lahiri writes, I also like Alice Munroe’s writings. I think everybody whom I have read has had an impact on me.

Would you like to share a little about your next book with usIJ

You know, once I made the mistake of speaking about a book I was writing and after it got printed, I lost interest in the book and it died. I think I should keep it to myself this time. But yes, I am working on a book now.

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