Rupleena Bose is a multifaceted writer and academic whose debut novel, Summer of Then, has garnered attention for its nuanced exploration of the inner lives of women and the complexities of modern relationships. The novel intricately weaves the personal and the political, set against the backdrop of various cities including Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai, and Edinburgh. In this coming-of-age story, Bose examines themes of identity, desire, betrayal, and the impact of sexual assault and harassment on women's lives. Her narrative style is noted for its sparse yet deeply compelling voice, reminiscent of the works of Sally Rooney and Ottessa Moshfegh.
Bose's professional life is as diverse and dynamic as her writing. She serves as an associate professor at Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, where her academic focus includes urban music from nineties Calcutta, the subject of her PhD. Her scholarly interests are complemented by her active engagement with cinema and culture. Bose has contributed articles to prominent publications such as The Hindu, BLink, Firstpost, Economic and Political Weekly, Open, and ThePrint.
In addition to her academic and journalistic endeavors, Bose has made significant contributions to the world of film. She has written several screenplays and co-created a National Film Award-winning non-fiction film titled You Don’t Belong. Her versatility extends to acting, and she has co-authored a non-fiction book on the history of film festivals, In the Life of a Film Festival (HarperCollins, 2018).
Bose's commitment to her craft has been recognized with a Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship in 2012, which she used to pursue creative writing at the University of Edinburgh. She splits her time between Aldona, Goa, and New Delhi, balancing her professional responsibilities with her family life, which includes her cherished cats.
Summer of Then stands out as a debut novel that captures the essence of a generation's struggles and aspirations, set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing India. Through her work, Rupleena Bose offers readers a poignant and introspective look into the lives of women navigating the often tumultuous waters of love, morality, and selfhood.
1.Your novel, Summer of Then, delves into the complexities of a young English literature teacher's life. What inspired you to write this story, and how much of it is drawn from your personal experiences as an academic?
>I have always loved reading novels set in universities or driven through the observations of a literature student and how they view life. It is very distinct in a country like ours. And somewhere I realized that there were not many stories of an urban Eng. lit. student / teacher especially a woman set in contemporary India which could also be about the larger things happening in the nation because the university is also a microcosm of the world. So I felt it would be interesting to understand the interior life of a young woman and the choices she makes. This voice of someone observing stories and the world around her was what I wanted to explore. It was that voice which led me to write this novel.
The events and the incidents that the protagonist goes through are not things that happened to me personally. The ‘personal’ seeps in through the little details. Like of teaching a text and how it contradicts or explains our everyday life, the dichotomy of reading say Shakespeare in modern India is something I have often thought about. Some of those observations are drawn from my own role as a teacher.
2.The book traverses various cities—Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai, and Edinburgh. How do these settings influence the narrative and the protagonist's journey?
>I had wanted to use the changing of seasons as a way of moving through years and the passage of time. And the cities are also representative of the seasons, like it begins in Spring in Calcutta and goes on to Delhi where the monsoon is bare minimum. In a way seasons in cities is also reflective of the characters we meet. They also defined by the cities they tread across. Also I liked the idea of moving though cities as symbolic of the changing mindscapes of the protagonist.
3.You address sensitive topics like sexual assault and harassment in your novel. What challenges did you face in writing about these issues, and what impact do you hope it will have on readers?
>It was actually a part of the past / adolescence of the protagonist when I had first tried to understand her character. It comes briefly in the story and in fact through the various drafts I keep removing and bringing it back. Because I didn’t want her to be defined by it, and yet it seemed I was silencing that past if I removed that segment from the novel. So actually yes it was a very difficult segment to decide upon through the editing stages.
Because that’s the thing about harassment, we are all so attuned to the silence around it. I hope the readers will see it as her past and yet she, the protagonist is also more and beyond that incident.
4.The novel explores themes of identity, desire, and betrayal. How did you approach developing the relationships between the protagonist and the two central male characters, Nikhil and Zafar?
>The central idea was identity in this story; there are so many identities we inhabit; our gender identity, our sexual identity, our religious or linguistic identity. And Zafar represents one of these identities, so does another character Pat. And when you think of identity, there is also the question of desire. And desire to me is deeply linked with betrayal. So desire and betrayal links the characters and their choices but as we go further we know there is the question of identity and how that is something that can lead you to a totally different path.
5.Your writing style in Summer of Then has been compared to Sally Rooney's Normal People and Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation. How do you feel about these comparisons, and what authors or works have influenced your writing?
>Interestingly when I had sent this manuscript to my agent, she was the one who pointed out that it reminded her of Moshfegh and Roomey who of course I read after that. They are wonderful of course.
And I imagine the comparison is because we don’t see many literary yet ruminating voices of characters set around the university from urban India. Some of the writers I have loved (and have influenced me) was Deborah Levy. I devoured all of her books. Elena Ferrante and her entire ouevre, Rachel Cusk as well. There is also Jenny Offil, Ali Smith. These were the influences among contemporary writers. There are so many actually Of course I love Virginia Woolf ‘s Mrs. Dalloway which I refer to in the story as well especially Woolf style of interior and the city, the way the novel unfolds as Mrs. Dalloway is walking through it getting ready for her party. I also love Orhan Pamuk and all of his works. Then there is James Joyce who Portrait of an Artist and Dubliners I think I have drawn from. Then there is Vikram Seth, Arundhati Roy, Amitav Ghosh, Manto, Tagore and other names which I am simply missing at the moment.
6.As someone who divides her time between academic writing, screenwriting, and fiction, how do you balance these different forms of writing? Do they influence each other in your creative process?
>To be honest my academic writing is like another identity of mine. And even when I wrote my doctorate it was very simply written, it was not a theoretical work rather it was about the music scene and urbanity. Screenwriting is about structures so yes somewhere maybe it influences my novel writing. But the fact is when I am writing a novel draft, I don’t write anything else. Its only the novelist world I am thinking about.
7.Your academic work focuses on urban music from nineties Calcutta. How does your scholarly background inform your fiction writing, particularly in Summer of Then?
>I wrote Summer of Then first and then my doctorate but yes I had done the research for my PhD earlier. I think the only thing I drew from that is my thoughts on the city; Calcutta essentially. But otherwise they time frames are very different. My music thesis is about Nineties and the urban music scene that emergence with cassettes and so on. While Summer of Then is firmly is about things unfolding in contemporary India and of course there is the past of family history.
8. Summer of Then explores the impact of politics on academia and college life. Can you discuss how current political climates shape the environments in which your characters exist?
>When I wrote Summer of Then, a lot of things that happens to the protagonist was drawn from the various protests in the country, the notion of equality, intolerance and how that would impact a young teacher. But when I read it now, it almost feels it is about the present. Universities are supposed to be free spaces, you can be whoever you want, you can protest, you can challenge institutions, you can change laws. That is the power of youth and it is for the well being of the nation that we allow dissent amongst students and everyone actually in public sphere itself. My characters are also part of this environment, they choose they life paths. Pat has to take a decision when his sexuality is discussed and the protagonist herself does not how to negotiate the changing politics, yet she cant leave because of her class identity.
8.You’ve written screenplays and non-fiction works. What motivated you to venture into fiction with this debut novel, and how was the experience different from your previous writing projects?
>I was always writing fiction, before Summer of Then, I had a draft of another manuscript. It was in April 2020 in the midst of a pandemic that I felt I had to write something else, which was not like what was happening around us an yet it was about the world through an ordianary person’s eyes.
I wrote stories and screenplays but films have an entirely different process, it is collective process, it has its own demands as a medium. There have been films I have written which are in various stages of development.
Writing a novel is of course the most pleasurable exercise for me, you just have your private universe, it’s the greatest escape ever. I wish I could do it all the time, wake up and write and drop everything else and not do any other thing but sadly we all have our livelihood concerns.
9.What's next for you after Summer of Then? Are there any new projects or ideas you're currently working on that you can share with us?
>So there is a novel I am working on, I have a first draft but still a long way to go. It is not a whuddunit but there is a mystery at the center of it. And the other manuscript which I will pick after I finish this one, is about a young man and his journey through the urban and the feudal. I am sort of midway through it but I need a bit of time before I see the end. And every once in a while I try to write a short story.
Comments