By: Mathew Jefferies
Award-winning author Tejas Desai returns with Bad Americans: Part I, the first part of Bad Americans, a notable literary work that blends the novel and short story collection into a single, ambitious project. The book is part of The Human Tragedy, a sweeping series inspired by Honoré de Balzac’s The Human Comedy, and continues Desai’s attempt to offer a detailed portrayal of modern American life.
Inspiration Behind the Frame Novel
Desai traces the origins of Bad Americans back to his time at Wesleyan University and The University of Oxford, where he first encountered Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron. “From that moment on, I wanted to challenge myself to write a contemporary frame narrative with short stories, where the frame narrative also worked as a novel,” he explains. After years of experimentation and preparation, that early dream evolved into Bad Americans, a book that intertwines twelve character-driven stories within a single, pandemic-era setting.
Writing the Great American Pandemic Novel
When COVID-19 struck, Desai saw the pandemic as a fitting backdrop for his ambitious literary vision. Living in hard-hit Queens, New York, he experienced the pandemic firsthand. That reality shaped the raw, immersive tone of the novel. “I wanted the book to be as realistic a mirror of the Pandemic Experience as possible,” Desai says. “I know there were novels set during the pandemic, but I’m not sure any attempt to capture the era has been as ambitious or as comprehensive in describing the diversity of the human experience during that time.”
A Revolutionary Release Format
Desai’s approach also breaks new ground not only in form but in presentation. He chose to release each of the twelve stories monthly between two main frame novels that contain six stories each. “If musicians can release singles from a concept album, why can’t authors do the same?” he asks. Each story stands alone yet deepens the reader’s understanding of the larger whole. In Desai’s words, Bad Americans is “a big literary concept album—a frame narrative where every story is a track that builds toward a complete experience.”
Worlds Within Worlds
Published in over fourteen segments, Bad Americans is unlike any modern literary work. Each story can be read independently, but together they form a sweeping tapestry of American life. “They are worlds within worlds, stories within stories,” Desai explains. The author’s use of a frame narrative—where characters tell their own stories while staying together on a mansion estate during the COVID-19 Pandemic—adds a layered complexity reminiscent of The Decameron and The Canterbury Tales, yet with a modern, distinct flavor.
Modern Decameron, Modern America
Desai doesn’t shy away from the comparison to The Decameron, but points out crucial differences. His storytellers come from a variety of backgrounds—different races, classes, and sexualities. Their tales are as diverse as the America they inhabit. “I call it Boccaccio meets The Bachelor meets Big Brother meets Upstairs Downstairs,” he quips. The book combines realism with satire, exploring love, power, morality, and survival in an America under siege.
A Vision Rooted in Literary History
Just as Balzac sought to capture 19th-century Paris, Desai’s The Human Tragedy aims to depict 21st-century New York and beyond. “Balzac is my all-time hero,” Desai says. “The goal is to do with 21st-century America what he did with 19th-century France—to create a vivid, suprarealistic portrait of our time.”
The Challenge of the Frame Narrative
While Desai’s command of short fiction is well-known, constructing a realistic and resonant frame narrative proved to be one of his greatest challenges. “The frame narrative was the hardest part,” he admits. “It had to feel organic, not over-crafted, while still holding together the twelve diverse tales.” Through countless rewrites and beta reads, he struck the delicate balance between structure and spontaneity.
A Panoramic Achievement
Ultimately, Bad Americans stands as a panoramic portrait of the American experience—complex, painful, and profound. Through its vast array of characters and themes, the book invites readers to contemplate essential questions about humanity, morality, and the stories we tell to survive.
“My goal was to craft something that had never been attempted before—a book that works as both a novel and a short story collection, a defining portrait of an important time in American and human history,” Desai reflects.
Dive into Tejas Desai’s Bad Americans: Part I today—a bold exploration of art, truth, and survival in a fractured world. Available now on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
