In 2019, readers of this column met Judith Krummeck, who was just then publishing her hybrid biography/memoir, Old New Worlds, which entwined the story of her great-great-grandmother’s immigration from England to South Africa with her own, from Africa to here. Many probably felt like they already knew her, as she has been the voice of evening drive-time for Baltimore’s classical radio station, WBJC 91.5 FM, for over 20 years. An alum of the University of Baltimore MFA program, Krummeck had also drawn on her immigration experience for her thesis book, Beyond the Baobab.
Now Krummeck turns to fiction, following a path blazed by the trustiest of storytellers — William Shakespeare.
Shakespeare is perhaps the most riffed-on writer in the English language, with retellings and spin-offs ranging from novels to teen rom-coms to musicals. Centuries after he originally penned his plays, Shakespeare’s portrayals of human nature still ring true. With Twelfth Night as its inspiration, The Deceived Ones tells a timely tale of Ukrainian refugees who find themselves in Baltimore. With themes relating to identity, belonging, creativity, and love, The Deceived Ones raises vital questions and engages the reader in a fast-paced and delightful narrative. It was a pleasure to chat with Krummeck about her debut novel.
Baltimore Fishbowl: What led you to write a novel? How was the process different from the composition of your previous two books?
Judith Krummeck: My transition from nonfiction to fiction came about by degrees. I was nervous about fiction (and, even more so, poetry!) but I took an inspiring elective with Professor Jane Delury during my MFA, and she helped me realize that it wasn’t as daunting to write fiction as I’d imagined. Because my concentration was creative nonfiction, which uses many of the tools of fiction like narrative arc, scene building, and dialog, the process of composition was not so very different.
In my biographical memoir, Old New Worlds, I had sparse factual information about my subject and needed to reimagine—to fictionalize—many aspects of her life based on my research. Having had a taste of it, I was keen to see if I could write a complete novel.
BFB: The Deceived Ones includes many characters who are not originally from America, but who have found their way to Baltimore, and because you write the story from multiple points of view—including the perspective of a xenophobe—we see a range of experiences and attitudes about what it means to be a foreigner. What do you hope your readers will learn from the novel about the experience of immigrants and refugees?
JK: This is such a fraught subject. The gift of birthright is just that: a gift. In America it’s bestowed on people who, for the most part, have forebears who migrated here somewhere along the line. It’s as the former Mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak, once said, “Of course we couldn’t all come over on the Mayflower… But I got here as soon as I could…”
It’s disconcerting when new immigrants to the States are either lumped together in a dehumanizing mass or singled out as an anomaly. In writing about the diverse trajectories of each of my migrant characters, I wanted to humanize the experience. It’s both a struggle and a privilege for every immigrant who gets here. We want to make that count by giving our adopted country our best shot—as the construction workers on the Frances Scott Key Bridge were trying to do.
BFB: Music is a vital part of the story, and the viol de gamba is a key element in the plot. Do you have a musical background? Why did you choose to have Vira play a historical instrument? Does the idea of music and the power of creating music as a group have metaphorical meaning here?
JK: I have somewhat of a musical background. I studied music history and I was a singer back in the day. Nowadays, being a classical music DJ helps me to feel steeped in it. Having Vira play viola da gamba was a nod to Shakespeare’s Elizabethan era. I wanted to thread elements through the book that would link us to that time, even though the setting is contemporary. I needed to have a way for Vira and Orson’s paths to cross, and her playing a rarified instrument seemed to present interesting possibilities.
Your question about metaphorical meaning is so interesting! You mentioned earlier that I’ve written the novel from multiple points of view. My reason for doing so was again a nod to Shakespeare in that, when we go to hear a play, we experience the whole through the performance of each individual actor. Similarly, making music together as a group relies on each musician to create the performance of a piece. If there’s a metaphorical idea here, perhaps it relates back to your question about the experience of migrants. It’s about the power of music to pick up where words end, and the idea that, rather than being “us and them,” we are all contributing to this melting pot of a country.
BFB: The plot is loosely based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, a work that is also the subject of the opera the character Orson is writing. Could you talk a bit about why this play interests you and why it works so well (and I think it does!) for a modern story?
JK: Again, it goes back to immigration for me. Yes, Twelfth Night is a play about mistaken identity and unrequited love, but I’m also keenly aware that Viola and Sebastian arrive in the strange country of Illyria and must try to find their way as outsiders. This displacement that migrants feel, something I’ve experienced in my own life, is still very real today. Also, the cross-dressing, or what we might think of now as androgynous or nonbinary, is fundamental to the plotline. It’s thought-provoking to consider this in terms of sexual and gender orientation issues which, like immigration, are often contentious today. Then, the Malvolio character in my book is not only annoyingly fastidious but also, as you pointed out, xenophobic as well as racist. This sets up a conflict in his infatuation with the Olivia character, whom I’ve written as bi-racial. It gave me an opportunity to reflect on that aspect of “them and us,” which is unfortunately still rife in contemporary society.
BFB: In your acknowledgements, you note that Baltimore provided the right backdrop for the novel because it reflects “both light and shade.” Could you say more about why Baltimore is the ideal setting for this story?
JK: Last year, it was cause for celebration when the Baltimore homicide rate was “only” 262. What’s wrong with this picture? The city is linked to grim and gritty aspects of The Wire, and that finds its way into my novel. Yet, we also have world class art institutions, a renowned music conservatoire, a major U.S. symphony orchestra, a hospital so prestigious that that one need only say Johns Hopkins for it to be internationally understood, and the same is true for the university of that name.
Baltimore is famously full of quirky individuals like the characters who people my book, it has a vibrant and supportive writing community, and it’s culturally and ethnically diverse. This last was especially apposite in terms of the Ukrainian community in southeast Baltimore, given that my twins are refugees from Ukraine. I’d actually started out writing about an unnamed East Coast city. But Baltimore has grown on me, and I’ve now lived here longer than I’ve lived anywhere. I wanted to honor that in some way and write about a place that I know intimately. The more I did so, the more it seemed to make sense for this story.
Events
Midday with Tom Hall, WYPR 88.1 FM Baltimore
• Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 12:00 PM
Ivy Bookshop launch
• Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 6:00 PM
Reading and conversation at the Pratt Central Library
• Saturday, May 25, 2024, 2:00 PM
• With Lesley Malin of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company.
Reading at Manor Mill, Monkton, MD
• Saturday, June 15, 2024, 5:00 PM
• With music from cellist Molly Aronson.
Reading and music at Evergreen Museum & Library
• Saturday, September 14, 2024, 12:00 PM
