Journalist James tells a tale of Bali

Journalist James tells a tale of Bali

Bruce Emond, Contributor, Jakarta

The journalist in Jamie James keeps up his guard for potential
verbal missteps, wary of the flip side that comes with sounding
off in print.

He will start an anecdote and then do an abrupt mental rewind,
suddenly realizing that it's better not to go there. "Sound
pompous, don't I?" he asks wryly at least twice during an
interview at a popular Jakarta coffee shop.

Yet, when it comes to talking about the favorable reception to
his first novel, Andrew & Joey -- A tale of Bali, James does not
hold back in expressing his delight. The irony is not lost on a
freelance writer who acknowledges feeling "creepy...I didn't
write it for them", when he receives thank-you messages from the
subjects of his travel reports and book reviews.

While there were the expected congratulations from friends and
acquaintances, Andrew & Joey has also been the subject of a
glowing review in TIME magazine. James recognizes, however, that
the Bali bombings gave the work unexpected timeliness and a news
angle.

"It's been thrilling. ... Stories can really move people, and
that's what a writer wants. ... When the (TIME) review came out,
it was like little Tiffany getting accepted at Harvard; we were
all celebrating," he said.

Andrew & Joey is "small" novel, just shy of 300 pages,
consisting of the flurry of e-mails that go back and forth
between a handful of characters as one of the protagonists, New
York-based choreographer Joey, is intoxicated by the pleasures of
life among the lotus eaters in Bali.

As Joey's 15-year relationship is torn asunder as he descends
into reckless self-indulgence, the messages are often funny and
ironic, sometimes cruel, and at times searingly personal and
poignant. Ultimately, they show that while we may make our own
reality, selectively donning or lifting masks for others, our
words often belie the pretense.

"With e-mails, you can get into the minds of the characters,
and I guess I was trying to go deeply into the psycho-sexual
lives of the characters and finding out things they would never
want you to know," James said.

Although the novel centers on the relationship between two
men, James does not want Andrew & Joey to be neatly shunted aside
as simply gay studies material.

"I don't really like this term 'gay novel'. I can certainly
understand why publishers use that term, but while the main
characters are gay, is the novel `gay'? That wasn't the point of
it. It's just a book about those people and they happen to be
gay," he said.

James, 51, is familiar with other Southeast Asian countries
from his work as an art critic, and his depiction of the Ugly
Expatriate Abroad rings as true for Bali's watering holes as for
the crowded girlie bars of Manila or Patpong. In a new land far
from the conventions that keep them in line in their own
societies, some people really do let their desires get the better
of them.

As Joey succumbs to the temptations of paradise, his life
shows parallels with that of Walter Spies -- the German artist
who made Bali his home in the 1930s, but was imprisoned on moral
charges -- whom Joey makes the subject of a dance performance.

It would be a mistake to consider the book a piece of
unbridled expat-bashing. Some of the Indonesian characters,
especially the young dancer, Wayan, whom Joey falls in lust with,
are also sharply drawn. When Wayan is basking in the adoring
stares in New York bars, he is, like Joey in Bali, an exotic
object of desire.

"A novel isn't much good to write, and therefore not much good
to read, unless the characters come alive. And that's true when
you're writing it -- the characters have to take a life of their
own and they can surprise you," he said.

James's journey to Joey's haunts in Bali and Jakarta, where
James now lives, has been a long and interesting one. Raised in
suburban Houston, he studied at Williams College, Massachusetts,
doing an internship at Interview, the ultra-hip New York magazine
run by artist Andy Warhol and his cohorts from the Factory.

He moved into journalism, with an early highlight including a
profile of Deborah Harry for Rolling Stone magazine. He has since
contributed pieces to the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly,
and Conde Nast Traveler, among other publications.

James also worked as a staff art critic of The New Yorker in
the mid-1990s, traveling around Europe and Southeast Asia,
writing about traditional cultures and civilizations, such as the
Angkor in Cambodia. It was while he was in Jakarta writing a
profile of novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer that he met his
partner, Rendy (the book is dedicated to him), and eventually
decided to relocate to Jakarta.

Travel writing does not present too many opportunities today
-- "That's completely dried up, not just in Southeast Asia,
(because) one of the worst aspects of what is happening in the
world is that international travel is an endangered species" --
and James is spending his time in his Central Jakarta home,
writing freelance articles and working on a second novel.

The latter is about a Javanese in England, in some respects an
Andrew & Joey in reverse.

"The new novel has a lot of characters, but the principal
characters are not gay, and that surprises me. In the beginning,
I thought that some of the main characters may be gay, but it
turned out that they weren't."

For the time being, the much-traveled James is making Jakarta
his home. He said he loved the diversity of the country -- "In
many ways, it is like the United States: all these ethnic groups
brought together" -- and is comfortable living here.

However, unlike his main character, his love of the country is
not about sampling the exotic as a hedonist abroad.

"Joey's view of Indonesia is oversimplified. There is a lot of
moralism here, just as there is anywhere. But, generally
speaking, if you're polite and mind your own business, people
will leave you alone and respect you."