Talk about being lazy!
8 days after the muse' smiled on me, i finally start writing about what i had intended to write on.
"The edition of The Literary Review (dated 02-08-2009)". The first article i liked was titled "Age and the Fiction Writer", though i hadn't read the book Aditya had published, it was quite evident (or so i thought) that the same had been debunked by critics and he dismissed and excused for being "young", when he singles out the treatment meted out to aspiring authors..."Discouragement is cheap and easy, but what is always wanted — now more than ever for Indian writing in English — is enthusiasm. So it needs to be said, that age is a number, and literature for the young."
Quite evidently i agree with Aditya and disagree with critics who claim that youth cannot create good fiction. Shashi Tharoor's The Great Indian Novel (1989), his first published fictional work, English, August : An Indian story by Upamanyu Chatterjee, The God of Small Things. by Arundhati Roy, Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri are just some of the examples of how the debut book is often the best written by an author; and these are just the "famous"ones in the genre popularised as "Indian Writing in English". Salman Rushdie wrote his first book Grimus in 1975 at the age of 28, hardly anyone i know has heard of it, however Midnight's Children (1981) at age 34 is a comparitively popular (at least well known) book. And hey, 34 by authors' standards is YOUNG!
Aditya argues his case well, and as a youngster i can understand his anguish, some of my best writings came when i wasn't schooled in the cannons of literature. Things I can never reproduce, after all my years of formal education and academic writing, an idea Bill Waterson explains well here:
My all time favorite: Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye was written at age 32 if i'm not mistaken.
No wonder then Aditya's piece woke me up on the Sunday morning, albeit i had slept @ 4AM or later.
This was followed by Navtej Sarna's piece on Maugham's The Razor's Edge, a book i had read in my first year of graduation as a part of my Maugham readings... Again, since i could relate to the book and hence the article it was an enjoyable read.
What followed next was Comic Book Capers by Pradeep Sebastian, an enthralling piece on the legend of Amar Chitra Katha and the curious relationship that Karline McLain, an american professor of religion shares with the ACK stable especially the mythology series. Though the ACK stable produced a myriad range of comics, the most memorable ones were the Mythological series as well as the one on Freedom Fighters and National Heroes. The article was a delight to read and made me retrospect and acknowledge the debt i owed to ACK, for forming my mind and beliefs on many things.
The book reviews were as usual well written and very "Hindu", notably those of Midnight's Diaspora and Hanging by a tail. Ashok Sahwny's The Sands of Time and The Mahatma and the Monkeys got nice reviews too. Likewise, Fizz goes flat, a review of Nantoo Banerjee's chronicles of the return of Coke, reasserted a belief i always had: Thumbs Up rocks!
If anyone's wondering why i havent mentioned the cover story of the magazine, just wait till the next post...
8 days after the muse' smiled on me, i finally start writing about what i had intended to write on.
"The edition of The Literary Review (dated 02-08-2009)". The first article i liked was titled "Age and the Fiction Writer", though i hadn't read the book Aditya had published, it was quite evident (or so i thought) that the same had been debunked by critics and he dismissed and excused for being "young", when he singles out the treatment meted out to aspiring authors..."Discouragement is cheap and easy, but what is always wanted — now more than ever for Indian writing in English — is enthusiasm. So it needs to be said, that age is a number, and literature for the young."
Quite evidently i agree with Aditya and disagree with critics who claim that youth cannot create good fiction. Shashi Tharoor's The Great Indian Novel (1989), his first published fictional work, English, August : An Indian story by Upamanyu Chatterjee, The God of Small Things. by Arundhati Roy, Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri are just some of the examples of how the debut book is often the best written by an author; and these are just the "famous"ones in the genre popularised as "Indian Writing in English". Salman Rushdie wrote his first book Grimus in 1975 at the age of 28, hardly anyone i know has heard of it, however Midnight's Children (1981) at age 34 is a comparitively popular (at least well known) book. And hey, 34 by authors' standards is YOUNG!
Aditya argues his case well, and as a youngster i can understand his anguish, some of my best writings came when i wasn't schooled in the cannons of literature. Things I can never reproduce, after all my years of formal education and academic writing, an idea Bill Waterson explains well here:
My all time favorite: Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye was written at age 32 if i'm not mistaken.
No wonder then Aditya's piece woke me up on the Sunday morning, albeit i had slept @ 4AM or later.
This was followed by Navtej Sarna's piece on Maugham's The Razor's Edge, a book i had read in my first year of graduation as a part of my Maugham readings... Again, since i could relate to the book and hence the article it was an enjoyable read.
What followed next was Comic Book Capers by Pradeep Sebastian, an enthralling piece on the legend of Amar Chitra Katha and the curious relationship that Karline McLain, an american professor of religion shares with the ACK stable especially the mythology series. Though the ACK stable produced a myriad range of comics, the most memorable ones were the Mythological series as well as the one on Freedom Fighters and National Heroes. The article was a delight to read and made me retrospect and acknowledge the debt i owed to ACK, for forming my mind and beliefs on many things.
The book reviews were as usual well written and very "Hindu", notably those of Midnight's Diaspora and Hanging by a tail. Ashok Sahwny's The Sands of Time and The Mahatma and the Monkeys got nice reviews too. Likewise, Fizz goes flat, a review of Nantoo Banerjee's chronicles of the return of Coke, reasserted a belief i always had: Thumbs Up rocks!
If anyone's wondering why i havent mentioned the cover story of the magazine, just wait till the next post...
4 comments:
I would disagree with Lahiri's book being called good writing. Apart from the one story where the husband and wife play some sort of game in a dark house (due to power cut) is the only one that caught my attention. The rest of the stories faded with every page I turned.
Also, when I read your writings, mine to me look very amateurish :(
The point is much discussed and even more argued. Lahiri's has thus far kept herself within the coterie of the Non resident bong, hence a lot of her writing IS monotonous and slackish, the point i was trying to make is that "Interpreter..." was her first published and made it big.
As far as ur comment goes, u're referring to "A temporary matter" undoubtedly the best of the lot, but there are poignant moments in "Mr Pirzada comes to dine" and "The third and final continent" as well.
Needless to say Ms Lahiri albeit capable of writing 3 good stories in a collection (as also in Unaccustomed Earth) is no O Henry.
true.
dibbi likhechis
and yes those who say that youth can't write goodfiction are muppets, we see some very very good and successful writers around who are either in their late teens or early 20s - Christopher Paolini and Eoin Colfer come to mind
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