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Three Weeks in December THREE WEEKS IN DECEMBER By Audrey Shulman In 1899 Jeremy, a young engineer, leaves a small town in Maine to oversee the construction of a railroad across British East Africa. In charge of hundreds of Indian laborers, he becomes the reluctant hunter of two lions that are killing his men in nightly attacks on their camp. Plagued by fear, wracked with malaria, and alienated by a secret he can tell no one, he takes increasing solace in the company of an African man who scouts for him. In 2000 Max, an American ethnobotonist, travels to Rwanda in search of an obscure vine that could become a lifesaving pharmaceutical. Stationed in the mountains, she shadows a family of gorillas—the last of their group to survive the merciless assault of local poachers. Max bears a striking gift for communicating with the apes. But soon the precarious freedom of both is threatened as a violent rebel group from the nearby Congo draws close. Told in alternating perspectives that interweave the two characters and their fates, Audrey Schulman’s newest novel deftly confronts the struggle between progress and preservation, idiosyncrasy and acceptance. Evoking both Barbara Kingsolver and Andrea Barrett, this enthralling fiction, wise and generous, explores some of the crucial social and cultural challenges that, over the years, have come to shape our world. FOR DISCUSSION 1. Both Jeremy and Max are Americans from small town Maine, encountering radically different cultures for the first time. Do you think their similar backgrounds influence the way in which they both experience Africa? Would you say that their impressions differ from what a British colonial’s might be? If so, how? Europa editions – 214 West 29th Street – New York NY 10003 – tel. 212-477-8242 www.europaeditions.com - [email protected] 2. In many regards, Three Weeks in December can be considered two distinct stories—one focusing on Africa’s colonial period, the other on it’s post-colonial period. Do you think that the (positive and negative) effects of colonialism witnessed in Jeremy’s section of the story can still be seen in Max’s, which takes place roughly one hundred years afterward? Where? 3. Early in the text, it is stated that Jeremy cannot differentiate between his worker’s ethnic and cultural groups (largely comprised of Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims from India). Do you think this plays a role in Jeremy’s later harsh treatment of them, or do you think his harshness is the result of something else? If so, what? 4. The wildlife of Kenya is of chief importance throughout the text—be it Max’s gentle gorillas or the brutal Tsavo lions, humans are continually interacting with animals. Both Jeremy and Max seek ultimately to preserve human life, potentially at the expense of these creatures, undoubtedly raising moral concern about their actions (exposing the gorillas to warlords; shooting the Tsavo lions). Do you think that, in each case, the benefits outweigh the harm caused? 5. Max suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of mild autism which makes it difficult for her to connect with other people. However, as Three Weeks in December progresses, she is able to make a connection of sorts with the gorillas. Why do you think it is that Max has difficulty understanding humanity, but feels at peace while amongst the family of apes? 6. Jeremy’s homosexuality is extremely difficult for him to acknowledge, and he spends a large portion of the text attempting to suppress his feelings for Otombe. Why do you think it is that Jeremy cannot bring himself to act upon his desires? Is it simply because of the time in which he lives, or is it something more than that? ABOUT THE AUTHOR Audrey Schulman is the author of three previous novels: Swimming With Jonah, The Cage, and A House Named Brazil. Her work has been translated into eleven languages. Born in Montreal, Schulman now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Europa editions – 214 West 29th Street – New York NY 10003 – tel. 212-477-8242 www.europaeditions.com - [email protected] AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR Q: Where did Jeremy’s story come from? A: Part of where Jeremy came from was from a story that my great uncle told me about being forced into the role of the great white hunter when he was young and lived in India. My great uncle went to India to work on a remote tea plantation around 1930. Harry was a sweet and bumbling man, very smart and moral, but really a man intended more for farming than hunting. However, he was living on the tea plantation when a rogue elephant started killing off Indian villagers in the area. The elephant, a huge male, had developed a fondness for rice wine. The villagers would make the wine by digging a large pit and filling it with rice and water to ferment. The elephant would sneak into the village at night, guzzle the wine and then, in a drunken fit, run through the village trampling people to death. Since Harry was the only one in the area with a shotgun big enough for an elephant, the villagers logically went to him to ask him to kill the elephant. Unfortunately Harry could barely shoot the gun. A small and savvy Indian managed to lead Harry through the jungle into the right position for a good shot of the elephant. He managed to do this not once, but twice. Both times Harry couldn’t spot the elephant through the jungle foliage even with the Indian pointing. The Indian, frustrated with Harry’s inability to perceive, much less hit, a target the size of an elephant, arranged instead for Harry to stay one night on the porch of the house next to the rice wine pit. This way he’d be so close even he couldn’t miss. Harry sat there on the porch, waiting and waiting through the night, trying to stay awake, knowing a huge murderous elephant could arrive at any moment. At one point, he realized he couldn’t see the moon anymore. Staring into the darkness where the moon had been, he understood the elephant had –without a sound– snuck in so close to him its forehead was blocking the moon. He pointed and shot frantically and at that distance killed it. He didn’t know how the other villages heard about the dead elephant, but within 24 hours the elephant's body has been utterly disassembled and carted off as food by Indians marching in from miles away. Over the years, my uncle’s story stuck with me because of the way his role of great white hunter was inspired by the physical possession of a large gun, not by any demonstrated hunting capability. More than a decade after hearing my uncle’s story, I read Col. Patterson’s The Man-Eaters of Tsavo, the true story of the two man-eating lions that killed over 100 people while the railroad was being built across what is now Kenya. Patterson’s book is the classic story of a brave British hero competently battling against murderous animals. How much fun it would be, I thought, to retell that story with a very different protagonist. Europa editions – 214 West 29th Street – New York NY 10003 – tel. 212-477-8242 www.europaeditions.com - [email protected] Q: Is Jeremy at all like your great uncle? A: Oh, no. My uncle was British, not American. He was a farmer, not an engineer. He was heterosexual, not gay. Also, although my uncle seemed very sweet and bumbling, he survived years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp near Singapore, including a month in solitary. Unlike Jeremy, I think my uncle felt a true joy in life that gave him an iron will to live. I feel lucky to have known him. My uncle lived to be 100 and died only a few weeks before Three Weeks in December was accepted for publication. Q:And what about Max’s side of the story? A: Ahh, with her side of the novel, I struggled and struggled for years. I figured out, in the first few drafts, the basic plot and components of her story: Rwanda, the mountains, the gorillas, the vine and the Kutu. However, no matter how I rewrote her chapters trying out different characters and narrative drives, her story just wouldn’t come alive. In my attempts, I would give her a sister and then kill the sister off. I would give her one profession and then another, living parents, then dead parents. For five years I kept reworking her story and all the versions of her story were all terrible. Then one day, around the time I was close to giving up on the book, I started thinking about how Dian Fossey had worked with mentally challenged kids before going to Africa to work with gorillas. Even outside of the choices in her career, she seemed to have difficulty having friendships with normal adults or a relationship with a man. There is one story of her going to a restaurant with people she worked with and the only food she ate was all the butter pats on the table, peeling them one by one and popping them into her mouth, with no idea that other people might find that strange. Thinking about this part of her personality, it occurred to me part of why she stayed in the jungle trying hard enough and long enough to be accepted by the gorillas, was she had no other options of places to go, or of connections to have.
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