AUTHOR Nu Nu Yi Inwa’s book Smile as They Bow was short-listed earlier this year for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize, for unpublished English-language works by Asian writers. She attended the awards ceremony in Hong Kong on November 10, where the prize was given to China’s Jiang Rong for his novel Wolf Totem. Meanwhile, Hyperion publishing house in New York has agreed to publish Nu Nu Yi Inwa’s book at a later date. The Myanmar Times met with her in Yangon following her return from Hong Kong.
MT: What inspired you to write Smile as They Bow?
NNY: Although I had watched nat [spirit] dances many times in my childhood, I became especially interested in nat beliefs only after I went to a nat propitiating ceremony organised by a family in Yangon in 1990. A late nat medium named U Soe Kyi, who became the basis for the main character in my novel, Daisy James, took me to the ceremony where he danced.
I was very fond of listening to nat songs and music, and this desire prompted me to go with him to the ceremony. Watching them dance, I became very interested in the traditional orchestra players, those who wiped the sweat from the mediums’ faces and the women in their 40s and 50s who came to dance to propitiate the nats. These women – how they relaxed after the dances; their economic, social and marriage problems behind the scenes – were the main things that inspired me to write the novel.
After the ceremony in 1990 I wanted to know why belief in nats was growing in Myanmar. So for three years I watched the dances and interviewed mediums and their communities. When I was young the mediums were women in their 70s but today the majority of them are gay. The life of gay people was very interesting. That’s why I made a gay medium the main character in my novel.
MT: What inspired you to create the two characters, Min Min and his girlfriend Pan Nyo?
NNY: This is not an unusual story in a gay person’s life. Gays are not real women but their mind works like a woman. In fact, when I did research I found out that they suffer from hormonal imbalances. They can’t regain a man’s psychology, not in this lifetime anyway. They love their partners as a woman loves a man. They love, feed and support their partners. But often their partners leave them and get married to their girlfriends. Almost every gay person I met has a similar story. Of course the men are attached to their gay partners but then they meet girlfriends and leave their gay partners with a broken heart.
I visited the Taungbyone Festival [held just north of Mandalay every year in August/September] for two consecutive years. I stayed at U Soe Kyi’s house during the whole festival and was able to take in the whole atmosphere. One day a young beggar girl stood in front of the house with her head wrapped in an old longyi and sang the same song I later put into my novel. She was an excellent singer. She inspired me to create Min Min’s girlfriend Pan Nyo. But the real Min Min of Daisy James had no affairs with that girl, as happened in my novel.
MT: How did you research the rituals and customs of nat dances to provide such an elaborate depiction in your novel?
NNY: I made recordings of my interviews with mediums and their partners, as well as during their dances. Whenever I write, I create my characters with sympathy and write with empathy – I write by taking their positions. Their characteristics were stuck in my memory as a result of my continuous research for three years and that helped me make the story as natural as possible.
MT: Why didn’t you choose a happy ending?
NNY: The majority of men eventually return to their gay partners because they can’t stand the struggle of marriage. If they live with their gay partners they don’t need to earn money because their partner supports them. Only a few who marry their girlfriends stay married. That’s why Min Min goes back to Daisy James in my story – it’s a reflection of reality.
I also wanted to finish my story on the seventh day of the festival. So I let Min Min go back to Daisy James after he is unable to find Pan Nyo. He’s been tired the whole festival. He lacks sleep from attending to Daisy James during the dances. So while looking for the girl the whole night, he becomes ill and his unconscious mind makes him go back to Daisy James.
MT: In your research, did you discover why so few women work as nat mediums these days?
NNY: Many gay people want to wear make-up and dress and live like a woman. Nat ceremonies are one of a few places where they can act as women freely and completely. So many of them are joining this industry these days. Another factor is that they are more successful than women because they have two-way thinking, both as a man and a woman. Make-up and fashion design are the best examples of industries where gay people are most successful.
MT: What is the significance of having your book translated into English and published in the US?
NNY: This is an opportunity for Myanmar literature to penetrate the world’s market. I’ve been delighted since the translation process was successfully completed. It’s a very rare chance for a Myanmar novel to get translated and published in the global language – not because there’s a lack of good English translators but because we can’t catch the eye of international publishers. But one point is that our novels must focus on subjects interesting to the world’s readers. It wouldn’t be bad if a passerby picked up my novel and had a look at it when it gets published in the US. Who knew about Nu Nu Yi Inwa before? Having been shortlisted [for the Man Asian Literary Prize] makes me delighted because I know Myanmar literature meets the international standard.
I also see it as an encouragement for younger writers who are trying to survive by writing novels. If they want their works to be known by the world, I’d like to remind them that – according to my experience from the awards ceremony – international readers want to know Myanmar’s characteristics, our way of life and our way of thinking. I mean they want to read novels that convey the atmosphere of Myanmar. They want to know what Myanmar is.
MT: How will the prize nomination and translation affect your career?
NNY: Half of the 200 people at the awards ceremony were publishers from across Asia. Many of them came to ask me if I had a publisher for Smile as They Bow because they were interested in publishing it themselves. Indian writer Reeti Gadekar and Indonesian-Chinese writer Xu Xi found publishers for their books at the ceremony.
As for me, Hyperion has given me an advance payment for the book and has said they would be interested in publishing other books I write in the future. Also, the publisher of an English-language magazine in Hong Kong asked me to contribute one short story a month. Everybody at the ceremony greeted the five short-listed writers by saying they were happy for us and our bright futures. What can be better for a writer than having contacts with publishers? It’s my dream to be able to write in a life of ease.
MT: Do you plan to write more novels in the future?
NNY: I’m not writing a novel right now but I’m thinking about starting one that would be a story about the life of a Myanmar family. I’m considering writing it in a style different from my previous novels.
MT: What do you think about the current state of Myanmar literature?
NNY: People have criticised the state of creative literature in Myanmar as being behind the times. It’s true because we are only just starting to enter the age of globalisation. People tend to follow the new trends. But I’m optimistic that Myanmar literature has a bright future. Creative writing will never get outmoded. Even now there are people who prefer to lie in bed reading a book. Only when civilisation itself disappears will creative writing die out.
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