Helene Wecker's debut novel, The Golem and The Jinni, is a compulsively readable debut novel about two supernatural creatures in turn of the century immigrant New York.
Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay; unmoored and adrift as her ship arrives in New York harbor in 1899.
Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert, trapped in an old copper flask, and released in New York City, though still not entirely free.
Ahmad and Chava become unlikely friends and soul mates with a mystical connection. The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of Yiddish and Middle Eastern literature, historical fiction and magical fable, into a wondrously inventive and unforgettable tale.
A magical debut; essential reading for lovers of historical fiction, fairy tales and the fantastic: read our review of the book, and read chapter one.
The Indigo Blog is pleased to present this interview with the author.
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Indigo Fiction Blog (IFB): What were the inspirations or influences for The Golem and The Jinni, literary or otherwise?
Helene Wecker (HW): There's too many to name! On one level, I had the old golem stories and the stories of jinn/genies, the Thousand and One Nights and so on. For the Golem, Frankenstein's in there too, and a little Pygmalion maybe, and modern scifi that looks at what happens when we create human-like life: Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the replicants from Blade Runner. For the Jinni, I feel like he was influenced by a number of heroes from different fantasy novels. Bertran de Talair in Guy Gavriel Kay's A Song for Arbonne comes to mind.
IFB: Which character was harder to write?
HW: The Golem was more difficult to write, because she's so influenced by the desires and fears of others. That meant I had to be constantly taking into account what was happening around her, and what she might be picking up on.
IFB: Apart from any historical research you did, what elements of the story did you draw from Jewish and Arabic folklore? I'm thinking particularly of Thousand and One Arabian Nights.
HW: I definitely drew from the Thousand and One Nights, as well as the Jewish folktales of Rabbi Loew and the Golem of Prague. Once I had the basic outlines of my characters, though, I stepped away from the old stories. I found I was too worried about getting it "right," and had to let myself develop my own versions of these beings.
IFB: The connections between the characters seem like they could only have happened in the tightly-knit immigrant communities of New York. How important was the setting of the story to the plot?
HW: Very important! The Jewish Lower East Side and Little Syria really were like little cities in their own right -- especially the Lower East Side, which in 1899 had already been thriving for decades. The immigrant communities were so self-contained that you could spend all day speaking your own language to everyone you met, but if you walked just a few blocks in any direction you would be at a total loss. (I'm guessing it's still like for many New Yorkers.) This meant that I could have two entire cultures living barely a mile apart, with no real knowledge of each other. As the book progresses, and the plot threads of the two communities start to overlap, it starts to feel like worlds colliding, even though technically they're all neighbors.
IFB: Were you to go walking with Chava and Ahmed on an evening in contemporary New York, where would you take them first?
HW: Such a great question... First I'd take them to an observation deck, maybe Top of the Rock or the Empire State Building, so they could get a good look at how the city's grown and changed. Then maybe Central Park, just so they could see that some New York institutions are still very much the same. I also get the feeling the Golem would really enjoy the High Line. And the Jinni would probably want to go clubbing. Unfortunately most of my own favorite spots in NYC are food-related, and neither of them eat!
IFB: The metalwork that Ahmed creates in the novel is stunning. Did you base his masterpiece on an existing artist's work?
HW: No, I didn't – it just sort of came to me. I knew he'd be more interesting in making works of art than in everyday objects like pots and pans, and I was trying to imagine the sorts of pieces he'd create. At the same time, I was researching what it was like to live in the old tenement buildings, and I kept coming across references to the pressed tin ceilings. It seemed like a natural fit.
IFB: Chava was designed as a perfect wife for one particular kind of man – obedient, intelligent, and mostly asexual – but these traits don't translate into perfect wifedom once she marries Michael. What do you think would have happened if her creator had lived? Would she be the "perfect wife" for him, or are there fatal flaws in his own imaginings?
HW: Oh, she absolutely would have been his perfect wife, for at least a week or two. I think he would've grown bored with her obedience pretty quickly. Eventually he would've wanted her to be more lively and unpredictable, which would've been difficult for her, if not impossible, since she was essentially a slave to his will. There's lots of sci-fi tales about computers or robots that are given conflicting commands and eventually go bonkers, or turn on their creators. I can definitely see that happening.
IFB: On a similar note, Chava chafes against the gender restrictions of her time and place, despite her design – she wants to mourn for Rabbi Meyer; she wants to walk alone. The supernatural elements, among other things, offer a way to comment on the times without seeming anachronistic. If Chava were dropped into our society, what would she have to learn?
HW: I think she'd have a lot of difficulty with the conflicting requirements that our society tends to place on women. Be sexy, but not too sexy; be ambitious and successful, but don't threaten the men around you. She would have a very hard time trying to walk that line. Ironically, she's pretty much the only woman out there who could really "have it all," because she doesn't need to sleep!
IFB: Alternatively, since Chava and Ahmad are effectively immortal, how do you think they would react to today's society? What would they find puzzling or ridiculous?
HW: I think they'd be shocked at the physical isolation of the computer age. Especially the Jinni – the prospect of staring at a screen in a cubicle all day would really be anathema to him. He'd end up a Burning Man type, or an extreme sports athlete, or something else that the Golem would find completely outrageous.
IFB: Aside from Proust, who are your favourite prose authors?
HW: So many! Michael Chabon, Neil Gaiman, Hilary Mantel, A.S. Byatt, Joan Didion, Susanna Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Samuel Delany ... the list goes on and on.
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Thanks to HarperCollins for facilitating this interview, to the Indigo Blog team for their thoughtful questions, and to Helene Wecker for her insightful answers. We wish her the best of luck with her debut.