Zhang Ling is the author of the new novel Where Waters Meet. Her other books include A Single Swallow. She was born in China, and moved to Canada in 1986.
Q: What inspired you to write Where Waters Meet, and how did you create your characters Phoenix and Rain?
A: I grew up surrounded by strong women in my extended family. My maternal grandmother gave birth to 11 children (in addition to a few miscarriages) through wars and incessant social turmoil. The fact that 10 of them survived to adulthood is nothing short of a miracle as the infant mortality rate was very high in those days.
With unbelievable courage, tenacity, and a great deal of common sense, my grandmother kept this huge family afloat amidst all sorts of social unrest and economic hardship. My mother and her siblings (boys and girls alike) all received good education relative to their time. Ever since the beginning of my memory, my mother has been telling me the remarkable survival stories of the women in her family, which have become a great source of inspiration for my writing.
Although Rain in Where Waters Meet and Swallow in A Single Swallow are fictional characters, they are a true reflection of these women in spirit. To create the characters of Rain and Phoenix, I just need to tap into my rich reservoir of memories and weave the fragments of them into the historical background on which I’ve conducted a great amount of research.
Q: The writer Devi S. Laskar said of the book, “Zhang Ling's Where Waters
Meet is haunting and heartbreaking as it navigates mother-daughter
relationships in the face of war and famine.” What do you think of that
description, and how would you describe the mother-daughter dynamic in the
novel?
A: The mother-daughter relationship is one of the most important human relationships. It’s a relationship one is born into, and hard to break away from in a way like the divorce from a spouse.
The relationship between Phoenix and Rain is a tense one, especially in Phoenix’s younger days, because of the unrealistic expectations, a common feature shared by Chinese parents, and also because of the tight leash Rain puts on her daughter which is at times stifling. It doesn’t get any better when Phoenix grows into an adult, as she inherits, unknowingly, the sense of insecurity and guilt derived from Rain’s horrifying war memories.
Their relationship is far from ideal and perfect, yet what touches my heart is the overwhelming love and sense of duty they have kept for each other. Each of them is willing to sacrifice the most precious things in life for the sake of the other, with no regrets.
During the process of writing, I’ve watched them entangled in the cobweb of love, guilt and resentment, feeling helpless as I know they have a life of their own which, even I, the creator, can’t affect or alter.
Q: This is your first novel written in English, and you've said, “Writing in two languages gives us an extra eye to perceive ourselves as well as the world around us.” Can you say more about that?
A: A language is not just a collection of words and a set of grammatical, phonetical, and syntaxial rules, it also carries with it rich cultural, historical, and social implications particular to the group of people who use it. When we switch from one language to another, we become aware of, to various degrees, these implications as an inherent part of the language we choose.
Writing in two languages provides us with an added perspective which helps us to discover not only the differences, but also the overlapping areas, between the two languages. When we start to explore these areas, we find unexpected pathways to the depths of human minds.
One’s first language gives one a sense of belonging and rootedness which unfortunately gets lost in a second language. In a second language, one feels a little drifty and uncertain. However, this sense of uncertainty and rootlessness might unexpectedly lead to a rekindled motivation for adventure and risk-taking.
A different language brings in a new sense of rhythm, contextual associations, and musicality, which rejuvenate me as a writer. When I am experimenting for the first time with my second language, which I’ve always used only for practical purposes, strangely I feel restricted and liberated at the same time.
Restricted in the sense that I have to think twice as long to find the right words and expressions to describe a scene, or an emotion; liberated in the sense that I am now a new kid on the block, carrying no burden, and hence no fear, despite the two decades’ experience as a writer in my native language. With this newly gained boldness, I start to discover things that I’ve never seen before.
Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: The editorial team and I considered a number of possible titles prior to settling on Where Waters Meet, as we feel the present title best reflects the content of the novel.
In the book, I have described several bodies of water (Ninehills, Oujiang, Mirs Bay, Lake Ontario) as the scenes where Yuan Feng/Phoenix’s life unfolds. In her adult life, Phoenix moves to Canada and marries George Whyller. Their marriage can be symbolically seen as a convergence of two streams of culture. And the return of Rain’s ashes to her place of birth can also be seen as the return of a tributary to where it’s originated.
The element of water used in the book is both an integral part of the actual plot line and a symbol for the fluidity and vibrance of life itself.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: My plan is to create a trilogy of Children of War, with A Single Swallow being the first part, and Where Waters Meet the second.
My intention is to address, through this trilogy, the issues of trauma of war and how it affects the lives of people for generations. War changes history, geography and people. By people I mean not only those who have lived through it, but also their offspring who inherit their traumatic memories of war. Currently I am gathering information for the third part of the series.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Before I became a full-time writer, I had worked for 17 years as a clinical audiologist. Looking back, I am very grateful that my profession not only supported me financially but also opened up a door for me to perceive the depth and diversity of human experiences.
At different points of my audiologist career, I had seen veterans from WWI, WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the more recent wars in Afghan and the Middle East. I also had the opportunity to treat refuges from war-torn and disaster-stricken countries.
I saw with my own eyes how these people struggle to come to terms with the impacts of their traumatic experiences, which have in various ways affected their relationship with the world as well as themselves. Their survival stories have become a great inspiration for me, motivating me to explore the theme of war, trauma, and healing.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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