Scala Radio Book Club: Either Or by Elif Batuman
From the bestselling author of The Idiot
Last updated 17th Aug 2022
On Thursday 2nd July, Mark Forrest invited academic, journalist and author, Elif Batuman, into the Scala Radio Book Club to discuss her brand-new novel Either/Or.
Selin is the luckiest person in her family: the only one who was born in America and got to go to Harvard. Now it's her second year, 1996, and Selin knows she has to make it count. The first order of business: to figure out the meaning of everything that happened over the summer.
Why did Selin's elusive crush, Ivan, find her that job in the Hungarian countryside? What was up with all those other people in the Hungarian countryside? Why is Ivan's weird ex-girlfriend now trying to get in touch with Selin? On the plus side, her life feels like the plot of an exciting novel. On the other hand, why do so many novels have crazy, abandoned women in them? How does one live a life as interesting as a novel - a life worthy of becoming a novel - without becoming a crazy, abandoned woman oneself?
Guided by her literature syllabus and by her more worldly and confident peers, Selin reaches certain conclusions about the universal importance of parties, alcohol, and sex, and resolves to execute them in practice-no matter what the cost. Next on the list: international travel.
Hilarious, revelatory, and unforgettable, Batuman’s gripping narrative will confront you with searching questions that persist long after the last page.
Mark began the interview asking, ‘The book is the voice of a young woman called Selin. Who is she? And as the book begins in 1996, where is she in her life?’
‘The character Selin is based on a version of my younger self,’ said Elif. ‘Her experiences are closely based on my experiences in my first and second year at university. Her parents are doctors who are from Turkey, and she is the first person in her family to be born in the United States. While I was on tour with my book The Idiot in 2017, I realized that I needed to write a sequel because of all of the political things that were happening at the time. I was doing this thing that a lot of women were doing, which was retelling their earlier sexual history using new vocabulary. I wanted to replay what it had actually been like at the time, and how I had reached certain conclusions that seemed really right at the time but with hindsight, don't seem so right.’
Mark then asked, ‘The book plays out from September 1996 to August 1997. How easy or difficult was it to take yourself back to that time?’
‘You know, what I realised as I was writing the book, was that it was actually quite a traumatic year. A lot of those early sexual experiences were quite traumatic, so it wasn't especially hard to remember them. What I really wanted to do was to unpack how exactly I had encountered those things and thought, “oh, that's not for me”.’
Mark asked, ‘Your book The Idiot was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize. It was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction. What impact did that recognition have on you as a writer?’
‘Oh, you know, I'm so grateful for the warm reception The Idiot had. It had a wonderful effect. I know some people who when they win big prizes, it freaks them out, and creates a lot of pressure. But the nice thing about almost winning a prize is that you have this feeling of recognition, and you get to just move on with it. I think that those two nominations really gave me a kind of confidence that I didn't have before.’
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