It was the year 2000 when author Ruchir Joshi came out with his debut novel 'The Last Jet-Engine Laugh'. More than two decades since, he is back with his second, titled 'Great Eastern Hotel'.
Set in 1940s Calcutta in the backdrop of the Second World War, Joshi's latest is an extensive book spanning 900 pages and consisting of a large, complex cast of characters with intertwining storylines.
"The years of the Second World War were among the most tumultuous ones in Calcutta's history," Joshi tells The WEEK, about using 1940s Calcutta as the backdrop for his novel.
The 1940s were no ordinary time, and along with the Second World War, there was a nationalist movement sweeping the country, numerous political forces occupying public space, the Quit India movement, the tragic famine in Bengal, and the demise of Rabindranath Tagore on August 7, 1941, from where the novel begins.
There's much in store in the book, but running into a page count of 900 can challenge readers with a contracted attention span.
"Even in these times of minced attention spans there is a substantial readership of people who avidly pick up long novels. Early evidence suggests that the book has found quite a few such readers in India, which is very heartening," he explained.
In an interview with THE WEEK, Joshi talks about his latest book, his approach to writing historical fiction, and whether the length of the novel was an ambitious effort.
Edited excerpts:
Calcutta isn’t just a setting in your book 'Great Eastern Hotel': it feels like a living, breathing character. What drew you to the city, and why did you choose the 1940s as a backdrop?
The years of the Second World War were among the most tumultuous ones in Calcutta's history. So much happened during that period, at the end of which the old Calcutta was completely transformed with the continuities of nearly two hundred years deeply ruptured.
It was a challenge to try and render some of those many upheavals, and difficult though it was, I ultimately enjoyed grappling with that history.
The Calcutta of the 1940s you depict is rich and immersive. Can you walk us through the research that went into building that world?
Luckily, when I started researching for the book, some people, who had lived through that period as young adults, were still alive. Their memories were precious in helping me imagine that time.
And then, yes, of course, I consulted a lot of newspapers and periodicals from that time, and books about that period.
While writing historical fiction, different authors take different approaches. Some like to stick to the actual events, others ride on their imagination a bit more. How did you navigate that balance?
I had to do both: make sure that the events I was describing did happen or could have taken place, and yet, since I was writing fiction, I had to ensure to give my imagination space to surprise me.
Your novel features a large, complex cast of characters who live in different worlds, at the same time. How do you approach developing each of them in a way that keeps the narrative coherent and prevents readers from feeling overwhelmed? How do you navigate when one character tends to overpower others, maybe based on your liking for a particular character?
It's funny how often I've been asked this question in slightly different forms. The fact that all five principal characters were equally important to me probably helped me balance the narrative and keep it going till the story unfurled fully. If a character got out of hand, the others would quickly put them in their place.
At over 900 pages, this is an ambitious novel, especially in an era of shortened attention spans and fast content. Who did you imagine as your reader? Also, was the book's length ever a concern, or was it an ambitious effort for you?
When I started, I'd imagined a book of about 500 pages or so. As I progressed, it became clear that the story (and the way I'd chosen to tell it) would need more space.
For a while, I thought I was writing a triptych or a suite, as in a two-book novel. But as the writing reached the end, my editor and I agreed that this was one single big book and not something that could be either shortened or broken up into parts.
I didn't imagine any specific type of reader, just someone who enjoys reading fiction, someone who would be happy to sink their teeth into a long, complex (and hopefully, engaging) narrative.
Writing a novel of this scale must have required immense discipline. How long did it take to complete, and what did your writing process look like? What was the most challenging aspect of bringing this together?
From initial research to locking the final draft took over twenty years. Various things intervened while I was writing the book and the trickiest part was whenever I returned to it after a period away—picking up the threads and re-entering the world of the story.
Given the reality of today’s attention economy — with readers drawn to reels, short-form content, and even magazines going Instagram-first —did you encounter any resistance from publishers when pitching such a long, immersive novel? What’s your sense of how the publishing industry views relatively bigger literary work today?
I've always had a tendency to go against trends.
Often, this is not a conscious choice but just how things turn out. My initial proposal to the publishers—many years ago—was that of a big book or a set of books, so they were neither surprised nor particularly alarmed.
Even in these times of minced attention spans, there is a substantial readership of people who avidly pick up long novels. Early evidence suggests that the book has found quite a few such readers in India, which is very heartening. Let's see how it does in the UK, where it will be released mid-July.
