“I found Emma to be the most interesting character in RM. I was struck by this young woman who was sort of kept in this liminal space, floating between worlds in an abstract sense, as well as in a literal sense. I was wondering where she came from, and what her development was as a character in your mind.”
Certainly in RM I was exploring the liminal. Another example that you haven’t mentioned, is that Emma is bisexual.
When I approached this chapter, I was, as a writer, thinking about the structure of previous chapters and wanted to play with it. Writing from the perspective of Emma in a delirium had all kinds of possibilities. I could follow the trajectory of the timeline less formally while also inserting flashbacks and a different setting, as well as exploring this aspect of magical realism through Emma’s experience with the angel.
In the novel, I wanted to focus on different characters who would give a sense of the variety of people who would live in a shtetl, so there had to be a child and an anarchist. I combined those in Emma and had her live with Alta-Fruma, who is so different from her. Those kinds of contradictions and meeting places interest me.
I’m glad to hear that Emma was your favourite character. It’s been so interesting to me that often readers do have a favourite, but there is so much variation in who that favourite is. As a writer, that is rewarding!
