In the Spotlight: Anita Felicelli
Anita Felicelli’s novel, Chimerica, begins when Maya Ramesh’s life falls apart. Immediately after her husband moves out and takes the kids, Maya gets fired from the law firm where she was about to make partner. Just when her life seems hopeless, an endangered indiri (a type of lemur from Madagascar) appears at her fence, only to reveal he escaped from the mural Maya had been involved in representing in a lawsuit. Suddenly armed with evidence that can take down her old case, Maya works to find a balance between using the indiri and protecting him in this new trial.
Felicelli and I spoke over email about the themes and importance of her novel in contemporary America.
What initially drew me to Chimerica was that it fell within the genre of magical realism. You do not often see books that are this comfortable with blending the world of fiction with that of fantasy. So I was wondering what drew you to the theme of magical realism?
I think a discomfort with magic is peculiar to contemporary American literary fiction. Contemporary American authors so often emphasize concrete, empirical observations in fiction. But, traveling beyond our borders and around the world, many countries have strong traditions of the fantastic in fiction. I've read a lot of global magic realism, surrealism, and fabulism - often these elements are used in connection with a political subtext. Sometimes they use the elements to conceal critiques that would otherwise be too painful or dangerous. With such a strong background in reading authors who casually incorporate magic realism, surrealism and fabulist elements-- everyone from Viktor Pelevin to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, from Salman Rushdie to Bohumil Hrabal -- it seemed completely natural to me to write a novel in that vein.
What was your biggest inspiration when writing this book?
Truthfully, my own observations of art law and women in law firm life were the biggest inspirations for Chimerica. I had a lot to say about these. But perhaps what you're getting at is what my influences are? In that case, I was influenced by William Gaddis's A Frolic of His Own, Franz Kafka's The Trial, and The Good Wife.
I am interested in both your influences and inspiration, so I am wondering: was there a distinct moment you observed either in art law or women working in law firms that you carried into the novel?
One is in the book. It's the moment where someone tells Maya, "Ok, sure, see how far being sweet will get you." This is something a woman attorney told me in my first year of practice. She was completely serious. Several years into life as a lawyer, I understood why she said it. Another moment I observed in a job in art law that influenced the book was observing the total economic devaluation of a POC artist's mural in litigation. Thinking about the injustice of that came with me into writing Chimerica — how much more highly the work of white male artists is publicly valued, how case law in copyright and art litigation has developed based on who has the money and resources to pursue protection of their intellectual property in a capitalist system, and how that's usually corporations or extremely wealthy white men, and not usually artists who are indigenous, Black or of color. And yet, how obsessing about ownership in connection with art — trying to wrest the magic of experiencing art to the ground and make it conform to our existing man-made structures — is also not the wisest course of action. Artists, like everybody, need to be able to afford shelter, medical care, food, but the way things are, they usually don't get those things through art. I came away from seeing that economic devaluation of the POC artist's mural, and comparing it to other cases involving white male artists, and I found myself thinking that our existing incentive and profit-driven structures place no value on art or artists — which is tragic. Artists, and their ability to show us what we might not be able to see for ourselves are vital to democracy.
I notice that many of your protagonists are Indian or South Asian women. With the #ownvoices movement being brought to the forefront of the literary scene, I wanted to hear from you why you feel compelled to write women of color.
I write about women of color because I am one. I started writing decades ago, and there wasn't anything related to my own experiences in American literary fiction when I started out - nothing about Tamil American women in the Bay Area. At this point, there are maybe a handful or two of American authors with roots in Tamil Nadu — I'm thinking of Rajesh Parameswaran, Nina McConigley, Shanthi Sekaran, and Chaya Bhuvaneswar. From the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, there are V.V. Ganeshananthan and Anuk Arudpragasam. Akwaeke Emezi has both Nigerian and Tamil parents. Aside from family and friends, books are the most important things in my life, and not seeing anything even remotely related to me for the bulk of my life, I've felt compelled to write my experiences in.
Chimerica. It's a great title. Was this always the title of the book? How did you end up creating this portmanteau?
Thank you. Chimerica was always the title of this novel; the title dates back to 2011. It's a portmanteau of "chimera" and "America" and it has two potential meanings. A chimera is something sought after, but which is illusory. The novel centers on a trial attorney's illusions about the legal system and her struggle in the wreckage of late capitalist workaholism to achieve the American Dream, which is forever eluding her. The character's name is Maya, which also refers to illusion as a counterpoint to reality within Vedanta philosophy. A chimera is also a mythological hybrid creature, and I mean to suggest something about America. In the novel, I'm looking at what it means to assimilate if you are a hybrid, about the immigrant self as a hybrid self, about the mixed caste self as a hybrid self, about how one's origins can feel alienated or entirely disappeared in that rigorous process of developing an identity as a lawyer.
What do you think Chimerica has to say about where America is today? Is it timely?
One is in the book. It's the moment where someone tells Maya, "Ok, sure, see how far being sweet will get you." This is something a woman attorney told me in my first year of practice. She was completely serious. Several years into life as a lawyer, I understood why she said it. Another moment I observed in a job in art law that influenced the book was observing the total economic devaluation of a POC artist's mural in litigation. Thinking about the injustice of that came with me into writing Chimerica — how much more highly the work of white male artists is publicly valued, how case law in copyright and art litigation has developed based on who has the money and resources to pursue protection of their intellectual property in a capitalist system, and how that's usually corporations or extremely wealthy white men.
Anita Felicelli is the author of CHIMERICA: A NOVEL and the short story collection LOVE SONGS FOR A LOST CONTINENT. Her essays and criticism have appeared in Slate, San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Catapult, New York Times (Modern Love), and elsewhere. She lives in the Bay Area with her family.
About Jessi Quinn Alperin
Jessi Quinn Alperin (they/them) is a recent graduate of the University of Pittsburgh. While there, they served as an editor for Forbes & Fifth for two years. Their poetry has been published by 70 Faces and Haunted Zine and they have also had a personal essay published in Twentyhood Magazine and two articles published for Environmental Health News. Jessi previously self-published a collection of poetry they had written between 2013-2017. They are currently a Social Justice Springboard Fellow for Oberlin College’s Hillel.