An
Interview with Eloise Hanner Eloise
Hanner’s fantastic new book, Letters from Afghanistan,
details her time spent in Afghanistan with the Peace Corps thirty
years ago. The book is a compilation of the letters that she wrote
to her mother during her time there, a format that is movingly effective
and entertaining. Ms. Hanner was kind enough to share a little of
her time and answer a few questions about her book and her writing.
JS:
What compelled you to share such a personal part of your life with
anyone choosing to pick up the book?
EH: I didn't feel the story
was too personal-nothing I wouldn't be comfortable telling anyone
at a cocktail party. And I wanted to share the experiences. I think
it's more important than ever to understand other cultures and I
think everyone should live abroad for a while. I'm also a big supporter
of the Peace Corps and thought the book might inspire someone to
join. Plus, I thought it would be fun to write it.
JS: Why did you choose to
use the format of the actual letters as opposed to taking the text
of the letters and putting them into a narrative format?
EH: Just to do something
different. My first book was written in narrative format so I thought
it would be interesting to take another angle. I also wasn't sure
I could trust my memory enough to "fill in" spaces that
might not be covered by the letters.
JS: How did you go about taking
the letters and putting them into book format?
EH: First I read them all
again, then I very slowly started at the beginning, trying to make
each letter about the same length, editing out boring details and
mixing around what I felt were interesting anecdotes, so each letter
would have a compelling tale and a strong beginning. This wasn't
always the case with the original letters, especially those of the
second year. I also tried to put in some information about Afghanistan
or Afghan history in every letter. It was a time-consuming task
(and at times, downright tedious)-would have been much easier to
write from scratch as I did with my first book.
JS: Did taking a second look
at the letters after thirty years make you think any differently
about your experiences?
EH: Not really. Being there
for two years made a tremendous impact on my life and that has never
changed. In a few of the letters, however, I thought I sounded or
acted immature and would find my self thinking "Did I really
say that?"
JS: At a time where the prevailing
American attitude about Afghanistan is less than favorable, why
put your story out there now?
EH: At least now, people
have heard of it and have a little curiosity. I wouldn't have been
able to sell a single copy in 1973. And if the attitude is less
than favorable, all the more reason to get some information out
there. Most people know nothing of the culture, the people, the
history or the geography and have based their attitudes on two-
minute television sound bites.
JS: How was the letter writing
helpful to you while you were in Afghanistan?
EH: As I mention in the prologue,
it was the ONLY communication home, so it was a vital link to family
and the rest of the world. I have always enjoyed writing, so it
was a pleasurable task and in many respects, an entertainment. There
was very little to do in the evenings and dedicating an evening
a week to letter writing filled the time and helped me sort out
my own feelings about my experiences.
JS: What's the biggest misconception
that most Americans probably have about Afghanistan?
EH: Americans don't view
Afghans as normal people who have the same dreams and ambitions
as they do. They only think of crazy, turban-wearing extremists
and beaten down women. They have no idea of the kindness of the
people, what their daily lives are like or how they live. They are
often amazed when I tell them that northern Afghanistan is a four-season
climate with snow.
JS: You also served with the
Peace Corps in Paraguay. Was writing an integral part of your experience
there?
EH: Yes. Although, this time
I was able to write letters on a laptop, put them on a disk, then
take the disk to a cyber café when we were in a town big
enough to have one.
JS: Can you tell us a little
about your first book, The First Big Ride?
EH: This was the story of
our bicycling journey across the United States as part of the American
Lung Association's 1998 Big Ride-700 cyclists going from Seattle
to Washington DC. It was especially challenging for us, since neither
one of us had ridden a bicycle more than five miles in the past
twenty years. We knew NOTHING about modern road cycling. I kept
a daily journal on the ride and somewhere around South Dakota I
decided that it was too incredible an experience not to save, so
promised myself to write a book on it.
JS: How did the experience
of writing each book differ?
EH: It was easier and more
fun to write The First Big Ride, since it was fresh in
my memory and covered a shorter length of time. As I mentioned earlier,
it's harder to re-work material than to create it. Each book took
about the same length of time to write, roughly nine months. I had
no expectations with the first book and had a ho-hum attitude about
it being published. But after its success, I had definite expectations
for Letters from Afghanistan and pushed myself harder than
I did with the The First Big Ride.
JS: What are your writing
plans for the near future?
EH: Good question. I want
to concentrate on marketing efforts for Letters for the next two
months, then start something new. There is definitely a book worth
of material on Paraguay and also from our years in Kuwait. I'm thinking
of going to fiction this next time. I want to see if I can do it
and it would be fun to combine and embellish the stories.
JS: Many thanks to Eloise for her time and for
sharing her thoughts about her writing and her new book Letters
From Afghanistan.
Letters
from Afghanistan
Eloise Hanner
Branden Books
2003
0-8283-2083-7
Non-Fiction / Personal Memoirs
Buy
a copy at Amazon
|
Reviewed by: Jeff Shelby, MyShelf.com
In
the age of technology’s immediate response and email, Eloise
Hanner reminds us of the power in a written letter.
Hanner’s
Letters from Afghanistan recounts her time spent in Afghanistan
as a member of the Peace Corps in the early 1970’s. Hanner
tells her story by way of the letters that she wrote to her mother
during her time away and, as a result has written a book that is
both entertaining and involving.
Hanner
takes us to a city in Afghanistan that most Americans have become
familiar with for all the wrong reasons over the last two years.
She is stationed in Kabul as an English teacher. Her vivid description
of the capital city is strikingly different from what we now see
on the evening news. Her early letters home are predictable for
anyone who has ventured into a land that differs from the American
landscape – frustration, confusion, exhaustion and self-doubt
are evident in her first days in Afghanistan.
However,
as her determination to succeed in her difficult task keeps pushing
her forward, the tone of her letters begins to change and the hope,
excitement and satisfaction she is experiencing are almost tangible
on the pages. The people she encounters, the places she visits and
the struggles she faces down become more compelling in each weekly
letter she sends home.
While
her story may be one that has been told before – stranger
in a strange land – it is her chosen format of the letters
that makes this book work. The letters are personal, simple and
detail her experiences in a way that make it seem as if each letter
was written to the reader rather than her mother. The letters share
the range of emotions she goes through, yet manage to avoid being
overly sentimental. Her final letter, written on her final night
in the small house that became her home in Kabul, eloquently displays
her conflicted emotions, as she is happy to be returning to the
United States, yet saddened to leave a place that became her adopted
home. In a traditional narrative format, Hanner would have been
hard pressed to convey her feelings so succinctly to readers. In
the letter, it is there for us to see.
Hanner
admits in the epilogue that, given the chance today, she would probably
not return to Afghanistan because of the violence and instability.
A wise choice. Fortunately, though, Eloise Hanner did travel to
Afghanistan thirty years ago and brought back a tremendous story
that should be required reading for anyone looking to travel abroad
and for anyone who just enjoys getting a good letter from a friend.
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