Photo by Alexis Calice
In 2009, Sana Krasikov’s short-story collection, One More Year, earned her a spot on numerous awards lists. Eight years later, her debut novel, The Patriots (starred review, LJ 12/16), has proven to be well worth the wait. An ambitious, multigenerational saga, the story begins in the 1930s with Florence Fein, a young Jewish American who emigrates to the Soviet Union to join the socialist cause. The narrative then propels forward to the present, as Florence’s son and grandson navigate the stormy waters of Russian-American relations. All the while, the family must reconcile their feelings for one another with their own personal ideologies. Below, Krasikov shares insights into her inspiration for the book, the current political climate, and her penchant for index cards. LJ: According to your bio, your early life was spent in the Soviet Union, and you have lived in Moscow. Were there particular experiences in your background that inspired you? SK: My Soviet immigrant experience was necessary to write this book, but what drew me to Florence’s story was that her life’s journey seemed such an inversion of my own. I immigrated in 1987 with my family, happy to accept America’s freedoms. Florence fled America as a young woman in the 1930s to find her home in Stalin’s USSR. That choice was incomprehensible to me when I started writing the book.A big part of writing this novel was my quest to understand that decision, which then becomes the goal of Florence’s son, Julian.
For example, in the 1930s, even as American politicians were warning about the “Red Menace,” those same politicians were smoothing the path for trade relations with the Bolsheviks. Of course, countries always make compromises, but they can be life-threatening for ordinary people caught in between.
Are there particular authors or teachers who have significantly influenced your writing? I was deeply influenced by Frank Conroy, one of my teachers at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. I admired his commitment to precision in fiction. He treated fiction as a reflection of life, rather than coming to it from an abstract critical-theory framework. I think he recognized a certain contrariness in my nature and encouraged me to embrace it. He said I didn’t have to be “a good girl” in the writing.Also Marilynne Robinson, who understood that literature was the one form of art that concerns itself with moral questions and that makes visible people’s tendency to justify their own actions.
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