| Username |
Post |
| Namita |
Posted
on 21-Apr-01 05:04 PM
Hom Raj ji,
I hope you don't take this as a critisism of your taste, but I must say, I really disliked Mishra's Fine Balance. I read it like 4 years ago and I remember saying to myself what the.....? Anyway, what I remember about that book is how the Indian society functions. There was nothing but corruption, misery, misfortune, and of couse caste driven horrendous atrocities. To me it felt like a stew cooked at the last minute - thrown everything in haste thinking hmmmm it might go well, hmm.. why not this it would appeal to western readers, hmm and so forth. The story does not - ever - bother to go in depth of any character, they were thin very thin almost one dimensional. Really this is what I remember. And yes, I like Jhuppa Lahiri's book. Enjyed tremondously and went to her reading....
On none fiction: Michael Focault's "I am not lying this is not a pipe!" I did not understand half of it, but please if any of you have read, enlighten me.
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| Hom Raj |
Posted
on 21-Apr-01 10:59 PM
Namita-jee
Everybody doesn't have to like what others like. I don't think his characters are one-dimensional, though. With one-dimensional characters, you can't really picture them, and these characters actually have lives. I felt like when I was reading it I was with them. One person had told me it was difficult to get into until you pass 100 pages because he creates lots of characters; maybe it could seem to be something like a stew. That wasn't the case for me but certainly I can see how that could be the case. What I like about Mistry's style is that not only he writes long, very luminous details but he also loves his characters which is very difficult to achieve.
This novel is not to enjoy reading horrible stuff; it's actually understanding them, that these things really existed. You can compare this with Dickens' "Oliver Twist." Don't you think Oliver Twist is a horrible novel in this sense? Depression, child labor, stew of all kinds of problems. "David Copperfield," same thing. Lots of black humor in both of them.
Anyway thanks for your comment. But maybe if you read it twice (which probably you don't want to do) you'd have different opinion. Maybe not. As a matter of fact I would like to read it again.
As for Foucault--I haven't read that particular essay or book you mentioned, but right now I'm reading "Archeology of Knowledge." I'm not saying I understand it that well but what I think is, if you think of it, you definitely have to get out of the linear box. A lot of postmodern writing does not believe in logic or linear thinking. So first of all you have to make the mindset more like understanding Hindu philosophy, which basically is based on the idea of paradox and illusion. When Hindus mention Durga/Parvati/Laxmi/Mahakali are basically the same girl Westerners would flip out. That's what postmodernist deal with. Multiple reality at the same time. Basically look for local narratives rather than meta unifying theme. That would make postmodernist writing easier to understand.
Hom Raj.
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| ashu |
Posted
on 22-Apr-01 02:59 AM
Namita wrote:
>I hope you don't take this as a critisism of
>your taste, but I must say, I really
>disliked Mishra's Fine Balance.
Mistry wrote that book, NOT Mishra.
There is this new young (30, 31 years old)
Indian writer by the name of Pankaj Mishra who
came out with a novel in English last year.
Mishra is also one of the early, pre-publication
champions of Roy's "GOST".
For anyone interested in getting a sense
of what Indian writers writing in English
have been up to, I recommend Mishra's excellent
review-essay in an issue of The New York
Review of Books (late 1999, I believe!)
Since we are all talking about books, here's an
idea (I have borrowed from Dr. Mabi Singh's Bengali
friends):
Maybe the officials of the Greater Boston Nepali
Community would like to talk to the officials at the
Boston Public Library or the Cambridge Public
Library (both are EXCELLENT institutions) and
look into the possibility of establishing a
"Nepali books ko collection" at either of
those places.
This way, as the Nepali community grows bigger
in Boston, there will be places for the members
and their children to have easy access to Nepali
fiction/non-fiction books and even magazinse like
Himal (Nepali) magazine and so on.
Besides, establishing relations with institutions such as CPL and/or BPL can strengthen GBNC's ties to Cambridge/Boston
all the more.
If people are interested, I am sure an advantageous
deal with Sajha Publication, Himal Books and other such
publications in Nepal can be worked out . . .though
that will take time, effort and some initiative. In the
long run, though, having such a Nepali section, however small,
at the public libraries can only be good for the Nepalis
in Boston elsewhere.
If I understood Mabi correctly, the Bengalis in Boston
have already started such a service in their public
libraries there.
This is just an idea; if this sounds pretty stupid, then,
well, never mind.
oohi
ashu
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