|
 X-Expats interviewed Jean Grant, the author of “The Burning Veil,” a story set in Saudi Arabia where love and different cultures collide. Originally from Canada, Jean lived for many years in the Middle East where she worked as a teacher and journalist. Now retired but living between two worlds (The United States and France), Jean writes stories she draws upon her life experiences and cross-cultural literacy.
X-Expats: You spent a number of years in the Middle East. What attracted you and made you stay in this part of the world?
Jean Grant: Being an expatriate has enriched my life. I was born in Montreal, Canada, and went to both French and English schools, so I had an early recognition that there was more than one way to speak and more than one way to live one’s life. That is perhaps what has given me an appetite for movement and flux, and that has led me to be a long-term expatriate.
Before moving to the Middle East as a newlywed at 23, I had already spent a year studying in Bordeaux, France, so I had no concerns about living abroad. The plan was that my husband, Bob Fraga, and I would spend a year or two gallivanting around the world, and then settle down somewhere in the U.S. for good. I felt carefree. I was willing to go anywhere—Cairo or the Congo, Beirut or Brazzaville. We went first to Cairo, where Bob had a job teaching, and then the following year to Beirut. I taught Communication Skills classes at the American University of Beirut, and every day seemed an adventure with bright students and exciting texts. My office at the university was located on Bliss Street, named after Daniel Bliss, one of the American founders in 1866. I found my bliss there. It’s hard for those who have seen only the civil war images of Beirut to believe how beautiful a place campus is. We were fortunate to live in faculty housing with a view straight on to the Mediterranean.
X-E: What prompted you to leave? Can you share with us your “repat” experience?
JG: When the Civil War came, for several months, I did not want to leave for I loved the city as one loves a person. To leave seemed a betrayal. But it really was dangerous—bullets in the bathroom, friends taken hostage, killed. So we left. We spent a year in England and France, and then returned to the Middle East to live in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. I liked the velvety heat there, but not the stony desert, and I loved my work as a journalist for Arab News, the kingdom’s primary English newspaper. I interviewed fascinating people: camel drivers, an astronaut, U.S. senators, Saudi ministers of state, and educators and artists. I also taught at Dhahran Academy, an SAIS school (Saudi Arabian International Schools). It was a wonderfully balanced life: interesting work, friendships made around the Women’s Pool, and overseas travel on every vacation. We left Saudi Arabia when my husband’s final contract with the University of Petroleum and Minerals was completed. In retrospect, the “repat” experience was difficult. As an expat, one is given to feel that one has more importance, somehow, and in the U.S. my self-confidence plummeted. I doubted I could get a job in journalism. So I turned to teaching, which I had previously enjoyed. It was a disaster. My classes were out of control. My students were just marking time, whispering, and joking as they waited for the dismissal bell. It was a painful year. It takes time to make new friends, and I missed my old ones. By the next year, fortunately, I had good friends and a delightful job in public relations at Ripon College in Wisconsin.
X-E: You share your time between the US and France. Is living in two countries a remedy for the travel bug/ repat blues?
JG: Living in two countries means housekeeping in two places, so there’s not the excitement of adventure I find in traveling, especially zipping about on the cheap. I prefer to keep my French and my American lives in separate compartments, living wholly in the place where I am at the time. I still have the urge to travel. I do this via house exchange, which makes it economically possible.
X-E: You have been writing on a number of subjects in various formats for quite a number of years. Where does this urge to write come from?
JG: I come from a large family (five brothers and a sister), and we were expected to share. For me, writing is about sharing. In my newspaper work in Saudi Arabia, I was lucky in that I got to choose my own topics. If something interested me, my editor at Arab News agreed that it might interest other expats too. I was lighthearted about my work, for I was never sure how long I could keep the job—at that time there were few women reporters in the kingdom. Most writers say they’ve been writers ever since childhood. That’s not my case. I did have an aunt and a great-aunt who were highly esteemed novelists—Grace Campbell and Alyse Gregory—so that may have influenced me. As a journalist, one gets to share in the lives of others and to pass on what one learns. The same is true for the work of a personal historian. There, the pleasure is in satisfying a client’s yearning to leave a legacy of words for their children and grandchildren. In fiction, the delight is in the surprises: all the unexpected things that come to mind as my fingers zip across the keyboard.
X-E: Your latest book “The Burning Veil” is a story about love and colliding cultures. What led you to choose these topics?
JG: Once I had chosen Saudi Arabia for my setting and a nubile American woman for my protagonist, the theme of love and colliding cultures was inevitable. I enjoy a good love story, one with lots of obstacles. I hope readers of The Burning Veil find it’s that kind of story.
X-E: Are the characters in your book fictional? Are they based on your own life experiences?
JG: In many ways, I am Sarah, my main character. I have some of her religious angst, her passion for justice, her idealism, and her desire for a bigger life. I’ve never had a lover quite like Ibrahim, so the imagination is heavily at work there. I have had encounters with religious extremists—and not only in Saudi Arabia. I find them frightening.
X-E: What messages do you wish to convey through your writing?
JG: I do not write to convey any particular message. I hope to write fiction that is uplifting. It is important to have hope.
X-E: Thank you Jean for sharing your views on life abroad and communicating through your writing, the enrichment an expatriation can bring (personally and professionally).
Please do not copy or cite without author's or publisher's authorization. |
