Bridging the cultural gap between the Indo-French literary dialogues, Pia Petersen, an established French novelist, feels Indian authors have a more political minded literature as compared to their French contemporaries. “I don’t see any difference between Indian and French authors. Books are written by people who ask themselves questions. I like the idea that we are not in different areas but in the same area with different way of seeing. Maybe Indian writers have a more political minded literature for the time being,” said Petersen in an e-mail interaction with The Statesman. The author is a part of Bonjour India- a cultural voyage, which aims to bring France’s most innovative and brilliant writers and thinkers to India’s literary platforms.
The author, who also marked her attendance at the Times Literature Festival held in the Capital recently was born in Denmark but chose French as her language for writing. On being asked the reason behind this decision the author replied that Dutch as compared to French is a small language that limited her creativity.”My own language in my opinion was a small language. It was a language that stopped me from thinking, it was a language that had forbidden me to ask a certain number of questions. So, I had to get out of the language. And I went on to pick up the French language because it’s a language that allows me to think without any kind of limit,” she added.
Choosing freedom and liberty as her main elements of writing, the author has penned down numerous novels including : Instinct primaire (Basic Instinct) Mon nom est Dieu (My name is God),Un écrivain, un vrai (A writer in full ) and others. Sharing insights on her stint as an author,Petersen said,”I don’t think that I chose writing but writing chose me. I was 7-years-old when I said that I want to become a writer. So, I believe that it was just like that from the beginning. I wasn’t inspired to be one but was a writer from the beginning. I think I was born with a pencil in my hand. I believe on freedom and identity. Freedom and getting out of identity is pretty much connected. Women isssues are also connected with freedom-to make your own choices.