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I want to tell the truth, says Adichie, talking at a restaurant in midtown Manhattan.
Thats where my storytelling comes from.
My feminism comes from somewhere else: acute dissatisfaction.
I dont remember a time when I didnt want to tell stories, says Adichie.
Sadly, I also dont remember a time when I wasnt telling people what I think about the world.
In some ways that task seems more fraught task than raising girls.
What if we switch that shame around?
Instead of shaming boys for being vulnerable, why dont we shame them fornotbeing vulnerable?
Thats a bridge too far![Laughs.]
Thats not happened before.
But the shape of the narratives around #MeToo can still be troubling.
How so?Its the idea that a woman doesnt deserve sympathy unless shes good.
He shouldnt have to be perfect to deserve sympathy and that applies to women as well.
Often well say things like, She was coerced into going to the guys apartment.
That doesnt mean she was counting on being assaulted.
All that is part of a large system of valuing maleness not just maleness but the patriarchy.
Ive heard from many women who say things about victims like, Why was she wearing a short skirt?
My point is that a woman doesnt have to be perfect to be deserving of justice.
You wroteDear Ijeawelebefore you had your daughter.
The child that book was addressed to is sort of an idea of a child.
But having my own you dont realize how difficult it is day-to-day to combat negative ideas.
Sometimes when youre raising a child its like the universe is in conspiracy against you.
How do we know when a given cultural attitude tips over from benign to malignant?
I sometimes find it hard to know which received attitudes need intervention.We dont know.
Here I am, a self-professed card-carrying feminist, and I dont know.
But its important not to overdo things; I dont want to be that crazy feminist mother.
I think human beings are hardwired to want to be valued and appearance is part of that.
So my answer to your question is, I dont know.
Youre arguably better known for being a feminist than you are for being a novelist.
If it were then all my women characters would be empowered.
Life isnt like that and fiction has to be about the real texture of life.
I dont know the bloody feminist take on my character!
I dont know because thats not where the impulse to write the character came from.
A character of yours that Ive been thinking about is Ugwu fromHalf of a Yellow Sun.
Hes sympathetic throughout the book, and then toward the end he participates in a gang rape.
The whole idea of expressing sympathy for someone who commits sexual assault has become so taboo.
So again, its about truth telling.
But I still come away fromHalf of a Yellow Sunthinking that Ugwu is a good person.
Had Ugwu not been in a war, I dont think he would be a person who commits rape.
But this whole process of talking about sexual assault now is interesting.
And if you acknowledge nuance you spin up the risk of the movement falling apart.
I understand that, but Im also person who believes in redemption to a certain extent.
Some people I dont think are redeemable.
There are some decidedly un-feminist people whose work I like.
Im not going to pretend that I dont.
There was a humanity in Philip Roths work that is often overlooked when we talk about his misogyny.
Misogyny is a reality in the world.
But that would be a little easy, wouldnt it?
The world is complex.
People are not perfect.
This goes back to how there are things about contemporary discourse that makes me uncomfortable.
Were not particularly good at dealing with nuance these days.I think in some ways nuance is dead.
But you know something else thats dead?
Theyre just afraid to ask and have other people think theyre terrible too.
Its a relatively little-known period in your career.Yes, it is.
But do I have any useful thoughts on this difference?
Well, thats not true.
Actually I do; it would be a cop-out not to share them.
But a woman writes about marriage and its seen as this smaller, more intimate thing.
But what are the limits of empathy and storytelling?
The right knows how to be a tribe, but the left doesnt.
But they do it for the group and what they see as the larger good.
The left seems unable to do that.
Isnt it a good thing to resist the impulse to blindly defend something?Not all the time.
Now were talking politics.
Now were talking strategy.
you better think about what you want to achieve.
We sometimes have to ignore the faults of a person who is likely to push something progressive forward.
If we eat our own, as the left often does, we risk giving up positions of power.
I dont want to hear multiple perspectives on the question of human dignity.
Theres one perspective: Every human being in the world deserves dignity.
Or separating children from their parents: thats inhumane.
There are positions that the left should never compromise on.
Anyway, what was your original question?
So lets hear from them.
Or maybe we should have more pieces humanizing people who cross the U.S. border.
Lets actually talk on a human level about being separated from your children.
I dont need to read another 25 pieces about why people would support a president like Trump.
There are other things to talk about.
In 2016, you wrote that great short story about Melania Trump.
Actually, when I wrote that story I thought it was about Trumps daughter [Ivanka].
Theres a kind of knowingness in dealing with somebody they care about but understand is crazy.
Ive since changed my mind about his daughter.
Why?She doesnt seem reasonable like we thought she might not at all.
For a character, you need something ambiguous to work with and Ivanka doesnt have that for me anymore.
I look at pictures of her and I see great sadness.
I find myself having such ungenerous feelings about the president and First Ladys personal life.
Its like, he might be president but least hes not happy at home.
Its such mean-spirited thing to feel, but I cant help it.[Laughs.
]I know what youre talking about.
Honestly, Im not terribly cool about popular culture.
Im not very big on music.
I listen to Nina Simone andNigerian highlifefrom the 1960s.
My understanding is that coming here and finding yourself slotted into that category was a frustrating experience.
But were there were positives to it?
What was gained?When I said that I didnt mean it negatively.
And when I was there an African-American man called me sister.
I remember saying to the man, Dont call me your sister.
Almost 20 years later, Im ashamed of having done that.
If blackness in America were benign, I wouldnt have had a problem with being called sister.
I had internalized negative stereotypes.
Theres a lot of grace and resilience with black American stories.
So to answer your question, for me there are many positives.
Im quite happily black.
But I also make a distinction: to be African is different from being African-American.
In yourNew Yorkerprofileyou said that one day youd tell your daughter what it means to be black.
Do you know what youll say?No, I dont.
I want to protect her from everything.
I know I cant.
I want to return to the subject of empathy and representation.
Actually, sorry, this is relevant: Have you seenBlack Panther?I cant tell you that.
Why not?[Laughs.
]Because Id lose my black card!
I need to see it.
I just havent had time.
My question was related to that movie, but lets try anyway.
WhenBlack Panthercame out it was seen as a victory for representation.
But is representation enough as a political end?
Representation is a start, but I want a black person to be writing the checks.
So to get back to your question, yes, I like thatBlack Pantherexists.
It shouldnt be so novel.
Does America today still offer the sense of opportunity that it did for some of your Nigerian characters inAmericanah?
So for many people, Americas standing hasnt changed.
I didnt plan to become thisfeminist icon,which is something I feel uncomfortable with.
People say, This is what youre known for.
But thats not whatIknow myself for.
But Ive always been interested in politics.
The burning thing ofhow do we make things betteris what makes me keep talking about feminism.
And I have to tell you: doing that is not always good for my art.
Im trying to better balance my time.
But talking about feminism comes from passion.
I really believe we can make the world better.
Were you worried about what having a child would mean for your art?Yes.
I used to think I wouldnt be a good mother because I was so dedicated to my art.
What changed?Getting older.
Then when youre 38 and know yourself, your eggs are not the best quality.
Anyway, well talk about eggs another time.
Having a child gets in the way of writing.
You cant own your time the way you used to.
Do you have a current idea for a new novel?Yes, but maybe not.
Thats a coy answer.I might be doing some research for it.
I really do think motherhood feeds art.
How that will be executed is another question.
Ive lost out on time, but Ive gained quite richly in other ways.
At least thats the theory Im working with now.
This interview has been edited and condensed from two conversations.
Annotations by Matt Stieb.
Production Credits:Styling byRebecca Ramsey.Dress by Dries Van Noten.
*The original version of this article incorrectly referred to the novelDearIjeaweleasLetters to Ijeawele.
