While the McAvennies played with new bikes and enjoyed a visit from Big Jamesy, Shuggie sat by her feet like a quiet shadow. He watched without talking while she drank from the bottomless tea mug. She told him bad stories of his father again, picking up the tale like it was a book she had only set to the side for a year. By the time the six o’clock news was finished she was sitting on her bed slurring into the phone to Jinty McClinchy. Shuggie slid quietly along the hallway and sat with his back pressed against her bedroom door. From there he could listen through the chipboard and could follow the bell curve of her worsening mood. He wondered how long it would be till she passed out, till he could have a rest. ( p. 304)
By the time the ceilidh band was in full swing he knew she would not be coming home. The revellers start to hug one another and break into song. He felt like a baby to miss his mother. It wasn’t fair, the way everyone could up and leave as they pleased. ( p. 309)
Douglas Stuart’s debut novel Shuggie Bain has had a dream beginning as an author. It has been longlisted for the Booker Prize 2020. It is labelled as a novel but Douglas Stuart makes it clear that a large part of it is based on his life as well. So it is not exactly a memoir as he has used fiction to write about his childhood. He discusses it beautifully in this conversation recorded with Damian Barr during the Edinburgh Book Festival 2020. Both the authors have written “memoirs”. While Damian Barr is clear that his Maggie & Me is a memoir, Douglas Stuart is equally clear that large portions of Shuggie Bain are based on his life including the detail about the alcoholic mother but it remains a work of fiction.
Damian Barr and Douglas Stuart in conversation, 26 Aug, Edinburgh Book Festival 2020
Shuggie Bain is the story of young Shuggie Bain who watches his alocholic mother, Agnes, destroy her life and family. It is a sad, sad tale. It is also extraordinary how Shuggie Bain manages to retain some kind of empathy and affection for his mother throughout the narrative. Shuggie is the son of a Protestant father and a Catholic mother. So with his parents marriage across sectarian lines is sufficient cause for being alienated by society but he is also bullied in school. His father, Shug Bain, is a taxi driver and a philanderer. He is completely irresponsible and soon leaves his family for another. Shuggie Bain is also the youngest of his siblings who is left at a very young age to be in charge of their ailing mother. He takes care of her, her medication, her food, he manages the household finances etc. He even has to manage the many men who drift in and out of his mother’s life. It is a brutal and violent world but he undertakes his responsibilies uncomplainingly. He seeks his older brother’s assistance but the awful truth is that their mother will never recover and her children need to move on with their lives. His brother Leek leaves.
Shuggie Bain took Douglas Stuart more than ten years to write. The first draft was over 900 pages long. But Douglas Stuart chose to write it whenever he had the opportunity. He was determined to use fiction to help him face some of the pain he had experienced in his childhood. Yet there are moments in the book where the descriptions of an impoverished neighbourhood, the people drifting about, the gatherings of the women in each other’s home and the many details that are used to create the various images of Agnes are visually powerful. They are hard to be rid off even after closing the book. Perhaps Douglas Stuart’s training in the visual arts helped him develop an eye for detailing the literary landscape. Given that he acknowledges some parts of Shuggie Bain are based on his childhood, many of the details are probably crystal clear in his mind’s-eye. More so since he has lived in New York City and probably retains a memory, almost as if wrapped in amber, about past experiences. Having said that the descriptions in every line whether it is of the women poring over the catalogues, or trying on the new bras, or Agnes dancing drunk, or the various cans of soup being piled in the cupboard, or the children in the street poking at a lump in the gutter etc are visually very striking. The texture of the story is enhanced by the Scottish dialect. It takes a while getting used to but once the rhythm is understood, then so is the story. Something about the story is very reminiscent of what Irish literature was in the fin de siecle of the twentieth century. The closest parallel to Shuggie Bain seems to be Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes. Understandably Shuggie Bain has created quite a stir on the global literary landscape.
In this fascinating video by journalist Shekhar Gupta on the recent controversy of Bloomsbury India retracting its contract for Delhi Riots 2020 Mr Gupta made a reference to the very first book that generated a controversy and unfortunately resulted in the murder of the publisher, Shri Rajpal. He was the founder of the eminent Hindi publishing firm, Rajpal & Sons. It was founded in Lahore but after Independence in 1947, the firm was resurrected in Delhi by the late Shri Rajpal’s sons, Vishwanath and Dinanath Malhotra.
Pranav Johri shared the following citation that the International Publishers Association had posthumously awarded his great grandfather Shri Rajpal. It is called “IPA Special Award Dare to Publish”.
Coincidentally earlier this week I saw a video that Meera Johri recorded. It is a fabulous talk remembering her father, Mr Vishwanath Malhotra ( 1920 – 2013) and his contribution to the world of Hindi publishing. It was his centenary on 27 July 2020. It is an extraordinary talk for not only does it commemorate a legendary publisher but it also gives a bird’s-eye vew of Hindi literature over the decades. Some of the stalwarts of Hindi literary world were published by Rajpal & Sons and those backlists continue to remain alive. Mr Vishwanath Malhotra was responsible for not only keeping Rajpal & Sons functioning after 1947, but he was also responsible for the establishment of Hind Pocket Books and later Orient Paperbacks. He founded Hind Pocket Books with his younger brother, Dinanath Malhotra ( D. N. Malhotra), another legendary publisher. Due to the immense foresight of the two brothers, they decided to split their assets in their lifetimes and not leave messy legacies for their heirs. So D. N. Malhotra managed Hind Pocket Books. It was ultimately sold to Penguin Random House India in 2016. Mr Vishwanath Malhotra managed Rajpal & Sons and Orient Paperbacks and these firms were later inherited by his heirs.
To commemorate the legendary publisher, Rajpal & Sons is kickstarting a year long celebration by organising events. For now these will be online given the unusual circumstances the Covid19 pandemic has imposed upon everyone. Later this evening, the publishers are organising a session where eminent poets from India and Pakistan will be reciting their poetry. It will be LIVE on the Rajpal & Sons Facebook page and later a recording of the session will be available as well.
This is what Meera Johri says “Rajpal & Sons was established in Lahore by my grandfather. Though in 1947 my father had to leave Lahore, but all his life he retained great love for Lahore. So that’s one reason to do this mushaira of shayars from across the border. Secondly our publishing house was the pioneer in making available Urdu shayari in devnagri script, and this series on Urdu shayari continues to sell well even six decades after its introduction.
Meera Johri
And last year we launched a new series called “Sarhad ke Aar Paar ki Shayari” . Each book features one shayar each from Pakistan and India, because we believe that while borders may physically distance and demarcate us , our language and literature is a shared heritage which must not be divided. So really it’s a celebration of our shared heritage.”
Rajpal & Sons has been in existence for more than a hundred years. They have a formidable backlist but their frontlist continues to grow. They adapt with the times. They won the first Romain Rolland Prize instituted by the French Institute of India to award a translation into an Indian regional language from French. The firm won it for Main Gumshuda– a translation of Rue des boutiques obscures by Patrick Modiano. It was translated into Hindi by Monica Singh.
The hallmark of a good publishing house is that they do not necessarily rest on their laurels but adapt with the times. More so with the changing reading appetites of their readers. Rajpal & Sons is doing exactly that!
Six titles have been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2020. The prize was instituted as a celebration of the art of translations. These are:
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar (Farsi-Iran), translated by Anonymous, published by Europa Editions.
The Adventures of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara (Spanish-Argentina), translated by Iona Macintyre and Fiona Mackintosh, published by Charco Press.
Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann (Germany-German), translated by Ross Benjamin, published by Quercus.
Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor (Spanish-Mexico), translated by Sophie Hughes, Published by Fitzcarraldo Editions
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa (Japanese-Japan), translated by Stephen Snyder, published by Harvill Secker
The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (Dutch-Netherlands), translated by Michele Hutchison, published by Faber & Faber
26 August 2020 is when the winner will be revealed.
Lists of any kind are just that a list. They are not necessarily exhaustive but representative. In the case of literary prize lists, there are many factors at play. It is not only highlighting exceptional literary talent that is worth having on one’s radar but also the immense variety of writing styles, stories, playing with the form, etc. It is a pleasure to assess the range in a shortlist of six titles. They sweep across geographies, folklore, magic realism, genres, and time periods. It is quite a heady experience.
Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann is historical fiction, set during the Thirty Years War. The central character is the legendary German trickster Tyll Ulenspiegel about whom many folktales exist in Germany. According to legend he is a German character dating back to the Medieval times but was turned into a Protestant hero at the time of the Dutch War of Independence. It is upon these elements that Kehlmann basis his novel Tyll. There is the classic story of Tyll, running away from home after his father, an avid reader, was accused of practising sorcery by the Protestants. While on the run he discovers his talent for dance, jugglery, walking on a tightrope and being a travelling entertainer who knows how to tell a good story. Tyll is created like a traditional story with a beginning, middle and end. But much in keeping with the personality of its protagonist, the chapters can be juggled about to create a narrative of their own. The account of Tyll travelling around the region performing, creating his own style of mayhem, against the backdrop of the war is chaotic but it has its charming moments when there are furious and deeply insightful conversations about the merits of the two languages and their literature — English and German. And this preoccupation with language becomes apparent when reading Daniel Kehlmann’s speech in praise of his then translator Carol Brown Janeway. There are moments in the novel when the horrors of the war are impossible to speak of and it is in such instances that the author relies upon magic realism to weave in folkloric elements. Surprisingly they do not seem disruptive. Far from it. The reader accepts these imaginative details easily. It is beautifully done. At many levels Tyll deserves to be recognised for not only its literary merit, but its literary craftsmanship.
Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa will probably be considered by many as a favourite to win. More so because this scifi tale is eerily prescient in imagining many of our realities of today. Odd is it not given that the Japanese novel was published in 1994 and translated into English recently. It belongs to the early writings of Ogawa who has a massive fan following. Many will want her to win but the novel has the markings of a fairly new writer which she was then having begun writing in 1988. In all likelihood her fiction of today and more than 50 books later must be very different. But Memory Police stands out for it’s very scary parallels to what many nations are experiencing today. It is grim to read. But then again that is the hallmark of classical scifi, to be able to nudge the boundaries of relaity sufficiently to talk about that which is plausible, even if it seems to be in an imagined realm. So while reading about these horrors is discomforting, there are tiny technical details within the plot that do not sit easy with me. For instance the very basic premise of making memories disappear. Long term memories vanish with a few individuals retaining them and they are eventually hunted down but what is the rationale for the characters recalling their lives of the previous days and months? This selective memory is inexplicable. Also having recently finished watching 100+ episodes of Person of Interest on Netflix, the machine who is at the heart of this AI story has its memory scrubbed clean every day at midnight. It is a fascinating story. Perhaps it is unfair to compare a story written in 1994 and a TV series written in 2013-16 but “Memory” and “Time” will continue to fascinate writers and scifi writers are known to think beyond.
The other four books on the shortlist are equally interesting. Original fiction with some such as The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree relying on magic realism as well to tell a story. But in all probability it is Hurricane Season that will be a close contender with Tyll for the Booker crown tomorrow. It is an extraordinarily immersive story told in these long, breathless sentences, describing the death of a woman in a village. A woman who was known to many but also shunned and lived on the fringes of society for the peculiar space she occupied. She was accused of being a witch. The novel begins with her murder and then from there it develops. It is a story that needs to be read out aloud for the true impact to be felt. There are so many details in it that can only be visualised while reading the story out aloud. Again, this story like Tyll stands out for its literary craftsmanship and the manner in which it has carried forward beautifully from the language of origin to the destination langauge. The Adventures of China Iron and The Discomfort of Evening deserve a place on the shortlist for their experimentation. The new literary talent deserves to be recognised but is it worthy of the top prize — doubt it.
The COVID-19 crisis is an unprecedented time, suspending large parts of human normalcy and disrupting global economies, including India’s. The Indian publishing industry has experienced difficult times with the advent of the pandemic and subsequent complete lockdown. With the ease in the lockdown situation, the publishing industry is focused on book sales and preparing for post-lockdown by seeking answers which can strategically fortify their business needs. As a result, Nielsen Book India has undertaken an initiative to provide meaningful consumer insights to the publishing industry. The research aims to understand book reader’s behaviour and engagement during and after lockdown.
“At Nielsen Book we are committed to supporting the publishing industry around the world during these unprecedented times. In India we have initiated a consumer research study to understand the reading and purchasing habits of book consumers during the pandemic. The study provides a vital understanding of how long people are reading for, their favourite genres and what their preferred formats are (print, e-books and audiobooks) as well as how they are discovering and buying books and how much they are willing to spend. The findings are extremely valuable to anyone with an interest in the publishing sector, providing insights into the behaviour of the Indian book consumer and helping inform future plans.” Vikrant Mathur, Director, Nielsen Book Research, India.
Nielsen Book conducted an online survey of 1,084 Indian adults (with a ratio of 60:40 female/male) to examine the impact of reading and buying behaviour on leisure books (excluding academic books) in India. The survey was conducted from 14 May to 7 June 2020. It was disseminated to publishers, media companies, etc. and across social media where followers used the snowballing technique to reach other respondents. It should therefore be assumed that the majority of respondents are likely to be keen book readers and buyers as per the methodology used to conduct the survey. The responses from employees working in publishing, book retailing and market research companies are excluded from the study.
CHANGE IN TIME SPENT READING AND OTHER ACTIVITIES
The report shows that two thirds of book readers say they are consuming more books since lockdown began. Before lockdown, Indian book readers read books or listened to audiobooks for an average of nine hours per week. Since lockdown this has increased by seven more hours a week. Two out of five respondents spend more time reading print books, similarly one in two spend more time reading e-books and one in five listening to audiobooks.
FORMATS USED FOR READING/LISTENING
On average, print books accounted for two thirds of book reading before lockdown and respondents predicted that print books would remain nearly as important even after lockdown. A marginal improvement was also noticed in the consumption of other formats.
Before lockdown, men tended to spend comparatively more time than women reading print books and listening to audiobooks while women are shifting slightly towards digital books after lockdown. Across all ages, readers are reading majorly print books while it was noticed that the ≥35 years age group (older readers), are marginally consuming more e-books after lockdown.
POPULAR GENRES DURING PANDEMIC
Women are more likely than men not to have changed their fiction reading interests since the outbreak of COVID-19, with both sexes more interested in Crime/Thrillers and Literary/Classic Fiction, alongside Historical Fiction (men) and Romance (women). Historical/Political Biographies followed by Self-Help/Personal Development and Self-Study (learning new languages, etc.) are the most popular amongst non-fiction readers. Respondents with children aged 0-8 are especially likely to have changed their genre interests when buying for children since the outbreak of COVID-19, with increased interest in Picture Books, Activity Books and Animal Stories. Those with children aged 9-17 are more interested in buying Spy/Detective/Mystery Stories, Fantasy and Classic stories.
AUTHOR AND LANGUAGE PREFERENCES
English is the most preferred language for reading followed by Hindi. One in three male readers prefers to read in Hindi. Younger consumers (≤34) are reading more titles from international authors compared to older readers (≥35). Two thirds of respondents prefer both international as well as Indian authors while one in 11 respondents prefers only Indian authors.
METHODS FOR DISCOVERING AND CHOOSING BOOKS
Recommendations from friends/relatives followed by media articles/reviews and general browsing on bookseller websites were the most influential factors on discovering books pre and post lockdown. Female readers are more likely than men to seek out recommendations from friends/relatives and read media articles/reviews. Meanwhile, male readers like to discover books by browsing on bookseller websites and looking at bestseller sections.
CHANGE IN SOURCES USED FOR BUYING BOOKS
Purchasing online followed by physical bookstores and then home delivery were the most preferred options for buying books post lockdown. Six out of 10 respondents expect to buy books through physical stores and seven out of 10 through an online bookshop after the lockdown is lifted, with the proportion higher than before lockdown in each case, but more so for online than in-store. Respondents also think they will make more use of home delivery after lockdown than before.
PURCHASING BEHAVIOUR FOR PAPERBACK BOOKS
Fifty percent of fiction readers and forty percent of non-fiction readers prefer the price point of INR200-INR400 when purchasing paperback fiction and non-fiction titles.
If you would like to request a copy of the report please email: [email protected]
ABOUT NIELSEN BOOK
Nielsen Book provides a range of services to the book industry internationally, aiding the discovery and purchase, distribution and sales measurement of books. We are proud to run the ISBN and SAN Agencies for UK & Ireland as well as providing search and discovery services for booksellers and libraries. Our electronic trading solutions, including Nielsen PubEasy, help everyone involved in the book supply chain trade more easily and our Research services provide retail sales analysis for both print and e-books alongside research from our Books and Consumers Survey. If you would like to know more visit: www.nielsenbook.co.uk
ABOUT NIELSEN
Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global measurement and data analytics company that provides the most complete and trusted view available of consumers and markets worldwide. Nielsen is divided into two business units. Nielsen Global Media, the arbiter of truth for media markets, provides media and advertising industries with unbiased and reliable metrics that create a shared understanding of the industry required for markets to function. Nielsen Global Connect provides consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers with accurate, actionable information and insights and a complete picture of the complex and changing marketplace that companies need to innovate and grow. Our approach marries proprietary Nielsen data with other data sources to help clients around the world understand what’s happening now, what’s happening next, and how to best act on this knowledge.
An S&P 500 company, Nielsen has operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90% of the world’s population. For more information, visit: www.nielsen.com
Juan Pablo Villalobos’s novel I Don’t Expect Anyone to Believe Me has a protagonist who shares the same name as the author. It has been translated from Spanish into English by Daniel Hahn. The fictional Juan like the real Juan did has plans to move from Guadalajara in Mexico to Barcelona in Spain to pursue a doctorate in literary theory made possible with an EU grant. This is where the similarity ends ( at least we hope so!). The fictional Juan has a cousin who is of no good and hobnobs with local criminals. Practically on the eve of Juan’s departure, the criminals kill the cousin and persuade Juan to run an “errand” for them in Barcelona. He is asked to “infiltrate” the literary postgrad world in order to acquaint himself with a wealthy Catalan magnate’s daughter, Laia. The devious plan involves the Mexican cartel wishing to extort money from the wealthy man. Juan agrees to this preposterous plan. He enrols himself to study humour in Latin American literature. Meanwhile his life outside the classroom flip flops between third grade crime fiction and literary fiction. Juan on a mission encounters the dirty underbelly of society. He comes face to face with dodgy folks of all kinds, he hears gutter language, he experiences xenophobia and it is contrasted with the more genteel talk of the educated and socio-economic elite. It is an absurd situation to be in. Ripe fodder for his thesis but mindboggling to be in the heart of it while trying to ensure one’s sanity and safety of his family.
Reading I Don’t Expect Anyone to Believe Me is almost like television channel surfing pausing for a moment on a thriller and the next moment on a more sophisticated drama and then a mindless serial, each with multiple accents and settings. Only difference being here that this is a single novel with four distinct voices, crafted by one man, the Spanish writer Juan Pablo Villalobos. The four characters who offer four different perspectives on the plotline hail from different parts of society. Apparently the original novel had very distinctive kinds of Spanish attributed to these individuals. Daniel Hahn, the translator, had quite a challenging time translating the different registers of Spanish spoken into English. He has written a fascinating essay at the end of the book which recounts in detail how he achieved this feat. It is an extraordinary essay which is worth reading especially by many Indian translators who struggle to translate different dialects of a single Indian language into English. One of the toughest challenges is to carry forward the different registers of the original language into the destination language without corrupting the literary intention and craftsmanship of the author. Daniel Hahn shares some of his insights. His essay is truly brilliant!
The novel I Don’t Expect Anyone to Believe Me is a comic romp though multiple socio-economic layers of Spanish society. For the most part they are invisible to each other but it needs a Juan to meander through it, making visible much that would prefer to remain under the radar. But the mirth created by fast paced, pitch perfect novel, cannot really mask the racism and immigrant related tensions that abound. It is a novel not easily forgotten. Worth reading!
It has been published by the fabulous independent publisher based in London, And Other Stories.
Intro art to The Decameron 2020 performances by Richard Petit incorporating elements of: Healing of the Cripple and Raising of Tabatha (1426-27) Masolino and Masaccio Portrait of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1975) Stefania Lotti
In May 2020, I was sent a YouTube link by academic and novelist Tabish Khair. It was a short clip of film actress Shabana Azmi reading a story. I began to listen. I realised it was a brand new story written by Tabish Khair. Soon we were exchanging furious messages over WhatsApp. I had a 1001 questions to ask him about the project — The Decameron 2020. Ever since I discovered the project, I have been listening to the stories on a loop.
Erri de Luca
The Decameron 2020 is a collaborative project of like-minded creative folks. The unifying factor is their ability to tell stories magnificently. The differentiating factor is the medium they opt to tell their stories. This extraordinary project is the brainchild of the Italian novelist, translator and poet Erri de Luca. According to him, “We imagined short novels because, in times of distress, we need to concentrate our words in the same narrow place we are restricted in. We imagined isolated actresses and actors around the world who give their voices as oxygen for the breathless.” His colleagues are producer Paola Bisson, filmmaker Michael Mayer, the Spanish publisher Elena Ramirez and Jim Hicks, Executive Editor, The Massachusetts Review. The Decameron 2020 project invites storytellers around the world to submit original stories for the project. These stories are then read out aloud by professional storytellers, mostly film actors such as Julian Sands, Fanny Ardant, Pom Klementieff and Alessandro Gassman. They read against a backdrop created by Richard Petit, co-founder and Creative Director, The Archers, whose mesmerising artwork unites these distinctive stories. Commenting upon the creation of these unique backdrops for the Decameron performances, Richard Petit says, “The experiences – both reading these extraordinary texts and responding to them visually – have marked this period of social isolation in an unforgettable way. Beginning by depopulating the masterworks of Florentine artists – in many cases, contemporaneous to Giovanni Boccaccio’s original setting – and collaging them with fragments from works by Italian Futurist painters, my goal has been to create beautiful but somewhat disquieting stage settings that visually connect these stories of quarantine, separated by nearly seven hundred years.”
It is an extraordinary layering to the original story. Much more than just a dramatic performance. There is something quite special about the telling. It is almost as if one has to as a listener be present “within” the storytelling, shut out all the sounds of life around one, and be wholly immersed in the storytelling. It is like recreating the experience of being “locked in” the story to experience it. I have no other way of describing it.
Erri, Julian Sands, Paola, and Alvaro Rodriguez
Tabish Khair
Pom Klementieff
Stèfi Celma
Alvaro Rodriguez and Alessandro Gassmann
Julian Sands
Photographs of some of the key artists of The Decameron 2020. Pictures provided by Paola Bisson and Michael Mayer.
These are surreal times. I like the parallels drawn with a war zone by Jim in his essay since it enables an experimentation with the story form too. There are no expectations of the writer / actor / listener about the act of storytelling. The story gets completed in the classic sense by the listener’s participation. Yet it is storytelling at a global level with the stories/performances such as Luigi Lo Cascio’s having a very rich local texture. What comes through beautifully is the shock everyone feels at the sudden end of life as we knew it. There is no precedence for such a global catastrophe. So behavioural changes cannot be mimicked. Nor is there any memory of such an experience being handed down generations. There is no witnessing of it either by those alive today. As a disaster management expert told me recently, “Difficult to find a narrative for what we are going through”.
Luigi Lo Cascio
It is also precisely why I am very intrigued by The Decameron 2020 project as it tries to make sense of our new world. The creative experimentation of making writers and film actors to collaborate while in isolation and across time zones is extraordinary. It lends itself to many interpretations in the performance of putting the readings together. If everyone had been together in a room ideating, there would have been multiple layers and I am guessing a completely different output. Instead working remotely, across time zones, the onus is upon every individual involved at different stages of production to interpret the story for themselves. Ultimately every stage — writing, reading out aloud, recording, editing, adding a unique backdrop, publishing on YouTube, listening — add layers to the performance. It is palpable but not disruptive to the experience.
The Decameron 2020 team were very kind in replying to some of my questions. So here is an edited version of the interview:
Q1. What sparked this idea for The Decameron 2020? ( Btw, did you know that #DecameronCorona has been started by Daniel Mendelsohn on Twitter?)
Erri: The Decameron and Boccaccio are pillars of our literature, so the idea sprang shape to Paola Bisson and me. We imagined short novels because, in times of distress, we need to concentrate our words in the same narrow place we are restricted in. We imagined isolated actresses and actors around the world who give their voices as oxygen for the breathless.
Paola: I can add that I had a personal need to reverse my isolation and discomfort in this “pandemic” time into a new alliance. I felt like a truck driver who sends radio messages looking for other drivers on the same highway, to share the journey.
Michael: When Paola talked to me about it for the first time I had to wrap my head around the logistics of such a project. We all knew it was going to be a challenge, but the creativity and ingenuity of everybody involved was really inspiring to me. Everybody who joined us has had such a positive and easy attitude that we were able to tackle all the practical obstacles.
Q2. How were the authors for this project selected? Who are the writers and actors invited to participate in this series?
Erri: As the epidemic covers the planet, we wished to invite writers of all the continents, to form an ideal chain with the exceptional readers of their tales.
Paola: The authors of this project were suggested by us (Erri, Michael and me), and by the precious help of professor Jim Hicks and the Spanish publisher Elena Rico Ramirez. The French publisher Gallimard (they publish Erri’s books) connected us with Violaine Huisman…but the “brigata” is still growing with new suggestions.
Michael: Erri and Paola know so many wonderful and talented writers and with the help of Elena Rico Ramirez and Professor Jim Hicks were able to reach even more.
Q3. What is the brief given to the author when commissioning the story?
Erri: We asked authors to write pages from the unpredicted siege, no limit to the argument, just to be read in around five minutes. Then the director Michael Mayer gave hints and guidelines for the video.
Paola: The brief was written by heart, at least for me…I learned English in the US, watching movies. For once in a while, I have been shameless writing to everybody.
Michael: No brief, except trying to keep it around 700-1000 words. Some writers submitted a short story, one wrote a letter, another a poem, while others gave us their personal journal entries. So far it has been an absolute privilege reading all their wonderful contributions.
Q4. Are the actors decided beforehand or are they selected after the story is submitted? Is it imperative that the writer and the actor have to belong to the same nation as in the case of Tabish Khair and Shabana Azmi?
Erri: There are no rules for the interpreters; with my story, the British actor Julian Sands accepted to give his voice and talent for the character of the tale.
Paola: Everything has been a pure collaboration and mutual suggestion. Still, The Decameron 2020 is growing this way.
Michael: Every case is different. Dareen Tatour, a Palestinian poet, asked that her poem be read in Arabic, by a woman. Fang Fang asked that her diary, originally in Chinese, be read in Spanish, or English. Other writers had no specific requests. Naturally, we treat every request with utmost respect, even if it means taking longer to find the right talent for each story.
Q5. When will the project conclude? Or will it continue as long as the lockdown continues?
Erri: Paola Porrini Bisson and Michael Mayer decide the terms.
Paola: I hope it will last forever, like an anti-pandemic vaccine.
Michael: We originally intended to do 10 stories, but soon realized we had so many beautiful tales, we had to extend the project. To me, The Decameron 2020 is no longer about the pandemic, but about the connections created among artists and about having a chance to collaborate with people you wouldn’t necessarily have had the opportunity, or even the reason to collaborate with.
Q6. How was the production team selected? How did the collaboration happen? What are the pros and cons of working remotely to put together such a magnificent creative project?
Erri: Paola was the producer of last Michael Mayer’s movie, Happy Times, so the essential team was there. We got the strong help of Elena Rico Ramirez, Spanish publisher. From my point of view, there is no pro, working in distant time zones, which reduces the mutual exchange of a few hours. To match it, we are engaged at every hour.
Paola: I work since ever with Erri. I am also the President of his Foundation. With Michael, I started collaborating a few years ago in a film project. With time we became friends too. Last year we made a movie together.
Michael: Paola, Erri and I recently finished working on a feature film together, so luckily we had a pool of talented people we already had a relationship with.
A big con is the challenge of communication.
The biggest pro for me is the necessity to learn to let go. This project forces me to let go a lot of control, as actors film themselves on the other side of the world. It’s a humbling experience as a director.
Q7. How do you accommodate diverse languages?
Erri: In my case, my Italian has been translated into English by professor Jim Hicks, a good friend who has supported in every way the project since the beginning.
Michael: Between all the members of our little team, we cover 6 or 7 languages.
And we’re not shy when it’s time to ask for help!
Q8. How is The Decameron 2020 being promoted across platforms? How do you find your audience?
Erri: I am poor in this matter; I just agreed about everyone’s free contributions, and the network.
Michael: Social media, personal contacts, press announcements and word of mouth.
Q9. What are the pros and cons of creating stories solely for the Internet?
Erri: No publishers, no paper, no cellulose from trees: I think that a writer has to be generous and share for free a part of his tales.
Michael: The ease of use and the ability to reach a global audience. For a project of this sort, I can’t think of a con.
Q10. In the past year there have been major shifts in the way films have been released in theatres and on subscription TV. Now the pandemic has forced many film producers (at least in India) to consider releasing their films first on television and later when cinema halls reopen via traditional distribution channels. Plus, the Global Film Festival has been made available for free on YouTube. Do you think these rapid shifts in storytellers finding their audiences will impact the future of storytelling? If so, how?
Michael: I am not much for making predictions but I believe there is room for all types of media and formats and I believe new technologies add to our media landscape rather than cannibalize it.
Q11. What next? When the world opens up, will you develop similar projects?
Michael: Having worked now with all this diverse talent from all over the world I can’t imagine restricting my work to just one nationality or language. So yes, I definitely hope so.
Jim Hicks sums up the project beautifully in this note he emailed:
I suspect that, like most good ideas (and, of course, Margaret Mead is invariably quoted in such contexts), everything begins with a “small group of thoughtful, committed citizens.” You begin by working together, and inevitably each person brings in others, and the network expands progressively, sometimes exponentially, getting richer and stronger as it grows. Though I believe that Erri’s original idea was for a “Decamerino” of ten writers and ten actors each telling one story, and I also believe that there are already at least that number in the pipeline, as Paola writes, when something is clearly working, there’s certainly no reason to quit, so this “Decamerino” could well add additional rooms, even becoming a house with many mansions, so to speak. And it is exciting to see Boccaccio inspiring so many projects today… another is unfolding at the online magazine Words Without Borders.
Personally, what excites me most about this project is Erri’s idea that from a variety of corners, all across the globes, collaborators can come together, sharing a great variety of stories and styles that, like a grand quilt, create a record and response to this global lockdown, but also a refusal of imposed isolation. Breaking the siege. Years back, I heard a talk given by another friend and frequent collaborator, the activist, poet, essayist, and translator Ammiel Alcalay; he described how a rather simple project of translation and editing, in the right place and time, could have a truly profound effect, and help to break a different sort of siege. Not that long ago, Ammiel worked to put together an anthology of Israeli Arab writers, some of whom had never before appeared in print, and some of whom lived literally blocks away from each other, but had never even met until their work appeared in the pages of a single book. For me, the chance to find great work, and great souls, from all around the planet, makes Decameron 2020 an incredibly exciting project, one that I’m both honored and enthused to put my energies, and what little talent I have, into…
For now, have a listen to the stories uploaded (at the time of writing) on YouTube:
Luigi Lo Cascio – “A message for my friends in isolation.”
Julian Sands reading Erri De Luca – “A Novella from a Former Time”
Shabana Azmi reading Tabish Khair “River of no return”
Pom Klementieff reading Violaine Huisman – Field Munitions
Mouna Hawa reading Dareen Tatour – “I… Who am I?”
Alessandro Gassmann reading Álvaro Rodríguez – “The Eternal Return of Chet”
Lockdown reading is a way of keeping one’s sanity. Long, satisfying reads are definitely a pleasaurable way to while one’s time. Tim Pears’s The West Country Trilogy consisting of The Horseman, The Wanderer and The Redeemed. It is historical fiction at its best. Mesmerising. Set at the beginning of the twentieth century, around the time of World War I. It is about Leo, whose father works in the stables of Lord Prideaux and the peer’s daughter, Charlotte or Lottie. Spanning a few years, from when the children were of school going age to when they are adults — Leo, a war veteran and Lottie, a qualified veterinarian with an independent practice on her father’s estates.
The Horseman is about Leo and Lottie as children. It is about their very different lifestyles governed by a strict class structures. The children share a love for horses. A love that transcends anything known to mortal man. It is a kind of love that is compassionate and all-encompassing, an energy that many humans, even those working in the stables, are genuinely unable to comprehend. In today’s age the children may have even been referred to as horse whisperers but the bond that they display with their animals is beautifully drawn out by Tim Parks. At first The Horseman is a little tedious to read for its very “horsey” descriptions and technical details. Soon it becomes second nature and the story becomes much easier to read. The story that emerges is the one of Leo helping to look after the horses, even grooms of other stables recognise his special gift of being with horses, his schoolteachers encouraging him to do what his heart desires and his slow realisation of Lottie’s presence. Their first “encounter” is when he sees her riding a new horse on the grounds. It is a stunning description. Later the very same horse is injured and Lottie refuses to have it shot. Instead she wishes to tend to it. She is quietly and ably assisted by Leo. It is an unusual story that begins to develop as it cuts across the severely demarcated social lines. Within the confines of the stable, perhaps the presence of a stable boy while the daughter of the peer is also present is not questioned, especially when a sick horse needs looking after, but the same kind interaction is more than frowned upon outside. Unfortunately that is exactly what happens and due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, Leo and his family are thrown out of the estate as Leo is seen with Lottie, unchaperoned. There is something quite remarkable about The Horseman as it immediately takes the reader into a pastoral landscape of the rigid society but the chinks in it are becoming apparent. While many in the first part of the trilogy hang on dearly to the old way of life, the two children — Leo and Lottie — begin to show the future way of life. For now it causes a catastrophic disruption in the personal and social lives of the characters but life moves on.
The Wanderer is the long journey that Leo makes wandering through through the countryside. It involves meeting gypsies and working as a labourer on a farm among other responsibilites. Leo’s personality comes across as a quiet, reticent but an equally stubborn, free-spirited individual who cannot be tethered for too long against his wishes at a task. He has to be able to exercise his free will. His self-respect is critical to his self-preservation. For Lottie too, her individuality and self-expression is very important and she insists on studying to be a veterinarian. The idea of a lord’s daughter being a professional was an act till then was unheard of and to opt for being a veterinarian would imply that her work would necessitate her being in the presence of many men too. Yet Lottie gets her way.
The Redeemed is the last part of the trilogy. It focuses for a large part on Leo participating in the Battle of Jutland — in it and later as a deep sea diver in the salvage yard that an enterprising businessman had set up to dredge the waters for the sunken German warships and sell the valuable scrap metal. It is a fascinating account particularly the description of bringing a massive ship to surface before breaking it apart. Offering a detailed view of the work involved is beautifully done. For instance, the conversations about trying to straighten the sunken ship and sail it to the dock for dismantling. It is a Thomas Hardy-like landscape and as absorbing to read. The focus on working people and their trade. Even Lottie is a qualified veterinarian who has broken the rules governing her class and sought a career for herself. For women especially of the upper class to actively seek a career was unheard of but to qualify as a veterinarian and choose to practise on her father’s estates is extraordinary. Yet, Lottie does just that and is accepted by everyone as a fine vet. Leo’s relationship with Lottie resumes though it is no longer the central preoccupation of this novel, but when it does make an appearance, it is ever so satisfying. It is no wonder then that The Redeemed is on the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2020.
This is historical fiction at its best. Ideally the trilogy should be read in quick succession. It is the only way to relish this fabulous bildungsroman of Leo and Lottie and the transition of society from a rigid class structure to a modern society. The Biblical underpinnings of the trilogy are unmistakable as is the imagery represented by the short titles selected for each book but these books are fascinating whether one is aware of the allusions or not. Read the trilogy.
‘It may not take the form of sticks and stones or result in immediate action, but if the collapse is as big as I fear, then old orders will be replaced.’ ‘Crashes are like laxatives. There is nothing like a good round of bankruptcies to get the art market flowing. People like me live off the three Ds: debt, death and divorce. The two sat in silence for a few minutes, one imagining opportunities, the other foreseeing disaster.
Hannah Rothschild’s latest novel The House of Trelawney is ostensibly about the Trelawney’s and their crumbling manor. It is about three generations living together under one roof. The elderly Viscount and his wife, their son and heir Kitto and his family — Jane, his wife and three children. The youngest generation consists of the abnoxious Ambrose, the sweet and lovable Toby and the sharply intelligent Arabella, a complete misfit in her family. Arabella is much like her grand-aunt, Tuffy, who is modelled on the Dame Miriam Rothschild (1908-2005); a brilliant British naturalist and a world expert on the flea.
It has been touted as a comic look at the decaying aristrocrat way of living but then comic forms of work are really a thinly disguised version of supremely intelligent wit. TheHouse of Trelawney is a superb account of three generations of aristocracy, every generation representative of it’s moment in history. As a result what emerges beautifully is how far each generation has “evolved”. The oldest generation has lived and witnessed aristocracy as all legends about it exist. Splendid social gatherings with the incumbent Viscount not having to think of “work”. The Countess was kept busy managing the large household and the guests. The younger generation consists of the children who are really not very comfortable belonging to the upper most social strata as it seems to have invisble bonds preventing them freedom. The eldest, Ambrose, who is set to inherit the title, is very unhappy at the thought of inheriting a worthless inheritance and a ramshackle manner whose maintenance will require more than a penny to maintain. The second son, sweet and gentle Toby, is lovesick but discovers to his dismay that he is in the crosshairs of a rigid social structure which is creating a rift between the young couple. The youngest and of a difficult temperament is the ever-inquisitive Arabella who drives her mother bats but then to everyone’s joy forges a comfortable relationship with her grand-aunt, a renowned entomologist. The sandwich generation of Kitto and Jane have seen their fortunes disappear rapidly except for their social graces and enviable status they have in society. Kitto married Jane for her money and not love although she had been in love with him since they were fourteen year olds. Yet with their crumbling (mis)fortunes, many of which are brought upon the family by Kitto’s ill-advised investments, it is Jane who is the “fall guy”. Jane is responsible for caregiving of the elderly and very kindly maintaining pretences of their past lifestyle, cooking and cleaning for three teenagers — even if it meant buying the economy pack of mince and feeding it them day in and day out, tackling the every growing pile of bills but making little dent in it, managing the chickens, a horse and a labrador — managing it all even if it stretched her, leaving little time for herself. Until she discovered the perfect hideout for her creative outlet — a printing press. She stumbled upon it shuttered up in one of the erstwhile servants quarters.
Jane had found the printing press ten years earlier while trying to locate the source of a leak in the third ballroom. She’d never been to that section of the fourth floor before and was amazed to discover thirty nearly identical rooms, each almost bare save for twin iron beds and a small cupboard, the stapble furniture of junior domestic staff. Opening the door of Room 128, Jane wondered why, and for that matter how, anyone would heave a laundry mangle to the attic so far from the washing rooms downstairs. Forgetting the search for the leak, she examined the heavy cast-iron table with a large metal roller at one end. Using all her strength, she managed to turn it around, forcing the roller majestically and rustily from one end to another. The contraption must have weighed half a ton. Intrigued, Jane opened the neatly stacked wooden crates lining the wall. They contained blocks of typefaces and letters in different fonts and dried-out bottles of ink. In a nearby cubpard she found some fading printed posters, all related to the suffragette movement and specifically to a women’s march from Penzance to London on 19th June 1913. Jane laughed out loud. Someone had deliberately hidden the press in the furthest maid’s room in the attic, where neither the butler nor any member of the family would dream of venturing. It made her happy to think that, deep within the hear of this ancient bastion of absolute male hegemony, there had existed a small and defiant opposition: a group of feminists prepared to risk their jobs and livelihoods for the rights of their own sex.
Let us not forget the cast of characters also include the absolutely atrocious noveau-riche hedge-fund billionaire Thomlinson Sleet; his third wife, an Indian princess Ayesha who is linked to the family of Trelawneys; Blaze, the incredibly successful financial analyst and sister to Kitto and Joshua Wolfe, the discrete but immensely successful financier. It is a fantastic mix of a very interesting cross-section of society, where irrespective of how much wealth they already possess ( or not), their primary focus is on being financially successful. There are incredibly interesting conversations that have been brilliantly etched by Hannah Rothschild. A sharp understanding of how there is an economic basis to every relationship. Inheriting enviable social titles without money in the bank is meaningless just as is having the ability to buy titles with new money while lacking class. At the same time being gender blind as many of the people in the novel are towards the three strong women — Tuffy, Jane and Blaze with Arabella showing excellent signs of following in their footsteps. Whether related by blood or living together under the same roof makes no difference to most of the extended clan at seeing the wonderful qualities these women possess of retaining their individuality, carving a professional space for themselves as did Tuffy and Blaze or managing home and hearth while being sensitive and caring especially towards the elderly as exemplified by Jane. Whereas the men carry on doing what they know best — the ageing Viscount who in his younger days was known for his ways with women but is now a sad grumbling wreck of his former self; his son Kitto who is presumed to inherit the title lives in his own world as CEO of a bank opting to shuttle between London and the dilapidated manor, hoping in a quick turn of fortune rather than putting in the requisite hard work; Kitto’s sons Ambrose and Toby are still in school. Ambrose is the eldest, educated at a posh school and detested by everyone at home for his snobbery. Toby is the kinder soul who is muddled about being born into the social upper crust while his friends are from the local village. The other characters such as the Dowager Countess Clarissa, the grand-uncle and art dealer Tony, the cook and her grandson are equally critical to the story as they are like the chorus of a play. Yet it is the core group of characters that help connect the dots of the rapidly evolving socio-economic order illustrating the changes that emerge in the clash between the old vs new money. Something that the Rothschilds are probably familiar with — The Rothschild Taste ( NYRB, 25 June 2015)
Being the eldest daughter of Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, Hannah Rothschild is privileged to have witnessed firsthand the manner in which British artisocracy functions. There are moments in the novel that can only have come from experience and not imagination but are so discreetly woven into the story that it could easily pass off as created dialogue. What makes this novel astoundingly remarkable is the cleverness with which Hannah Rothschild has shown the economic usefulness of women along with their keen ability to survive irrespective of circumstances. It is trait that seems to exist across socio-economic groups; the women do not seem to be burdened by an sense of entitlement and inherited prejudices. They just get on doing what they must. The women mirror much of the men in the story as in the women too represent three different generations and old vs new money but the distinctive feature about the women is that they are far more flexible in their wants and generous in their spend.
21 March 2020
*Note: It has been quite a task writing this review. It has taken much, much longer than expected. More than a week. A week that has eerily coincided with the global markets being horrendously volatile in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. This novel too is set at the time of the market crash of 2008 and the Sars epidemic! Uncanny parallels!
Writing from the north east of India has always had an interesting texture to it. It is distinct. Although the “north east” is clubbed as one region, the variations that exist in the seven states constituting this region are mind-boggling. Much of the writing that is available from this region is a combination of original writing in English and some in translation. Unlike writing in other parts of the Indian subcontinent where there are very distinct literary traditions in the regional languages and those who opt to write in English, this is not always true for the writing emanating from North East India. To illustrate. Writing in other Indian regional languages has a very distinct local cultural feel to it with preoccupations that are understandably of the region. Also the writing is very clear about the local literary traditions. So much of this gets translated as is in to English. When some of these regional writers opt to write in English then they infuse some of their writing with a regional flavour but only mildly so. This is where the differences creep in with the Indian writing in English emulating more of the rules and traditions of the borrowed English literary traditions rather than being confident of their own traditions infusing the English space. Interestingly these distinctions are not visible in these two marvellous collections of writings — The Many That I Am: Writings from Nagaland (Ed. Anungla Zoe Longkumar) and Crafting the Word: Writings from Manipur (Ed. Thingnam Anjulika Samom). These are collections of writings — fiction, essays, poems, illustrations, comic strip — by women from the north east of India. It is not possible to gauge from the tenor of writing which of the contributions is a translation or an original article in English. All the contributions, irrespective of whether a translation or written originally in English, focus upon their local landscape and culture. There is a calm confidence about narrating incidents of the transformation of their society from tribal customs such as head-hunting to becoming Baptists as in The Many That I Am. (“Cut off” by Vishu Rita Krocha) The volume of writings from Manipur throws the spotlight on recent decades of activism by women and many of them being at the forefront of the armed conflict that has plagued the state. The nature of contributions in Crafting the Word is a little more languid and gentler as compared to The Many That I Am which is puzzling; given that Crafting the Word arose out a women’s literary group called Leikol founded in 2001 and so had more time to hone their writing skills. Be that as it may, there is a quiet maturity to the style of writing even if it is not at par with the punchiness seen in most of the pieces included in The Many That I Am.
Zubaan is a legendary feminist press. It is known for its fundamental work on literature by women. Sometimes the contribution of women is expressed in myriad ways. Fiction is a powerful literary form to highlight the position of women and to express their innermost feelings. Many of the stories included in these two volumes achieve this beautifully. The hard labour that women put in to keep their households going as in “Vili’s Runaway Son” by Abokali Jimomi, “Martha’s Mother” by Hekali Zhimomi, and “As Spring Arrived” by Kshetrimayum Subadani ( Translated from Manipuri by Sapam Sweetie) and in many cases helping the next generation fulfil their dreams as in “My Mother’s Daughter” by Neikehienuo Mepfhuo. The essays in these volumes vary from memoirs to fascinating account of the flourishing of women’s writing in Manipur ( “The Journey of Women’s Writing in Manipuri Literature” by Nahakpam Aruna) to how readers access literature — the “outbooks” or the books apart from the Bible and the school textbooks, in a lovely essay by Narola Changkija ( “Outbooks: A Personal Essay, September 2018). An essay in which she reflects upon how her mother banned all outbooks in the home but her father, a police officer, on his travels would fulful his daughter’s wish and buy her the books she desired.
What matters is that his reverence for the written word was catholic, in the very best sense of the term. Literary or pulp fiction, any ‘outbook’ was evaluated and read and appreciated for its unique self. I like to think I have, finally, developed a similar catholic patience towards books, and life, and other human beings. At least, I hope I’ve learned how to value the things worth valuing and let the rest be.
Another one is a poem “Secret Library” by Dzuvinguno Dorothy Chase in a section entitled “What Time Told Me in 2018”.
The Many That I Am is a very powerful collection. It is best read from cover to cover. Impossible to dip in to without wanting to read one more and one more and one more. Here is an example of a performance poem. Timely words. Much to dissect here. Perhaps best left as is to be read, to reflect, to share and to perform widely.
It is challenging to succintly conclude about the magnificently magical power that lies within these two collections. It creeps upon the reader to leave a delicious sense of sisterhood and belonging, an empowering feeling to know that one is not alone in the daily grind of being a woman in a society still governed and defined by patriarchal norms. It is a fantastic feeling to come to the last page of the book and discover the comic strip shown. The joy of finding in pictures the exhilarating feeling of surmouning all those metaphorical mountains and emotional claptrap that is used by many to keep women from achieving.
Buy these volumes. Read them. Share them with not just the converted but a wider audience. Appreciate the writings for themselves. The “-isms” will follow, if they have to.
These two are always quarrelling like a husband and wife who have been married for too long. But they cann’t even get married when we grow up because Faiz is a Muslim. It’s too dangerous to marry a Muslim if you’re a Hindu. On the TV news, I have seen blood-red photos of people who were murdered because they married someone from a different religion or caste. Also, Faiz is shorter than Pari, so they wouldn’t make a good match anyway.
Debut author and former journalist, Deepa Anappara’s Djinn Patrol on the Purple Lineis set in an urban slum in a nameless Indian city. The story is told from the perspective of nine-year-old Jai. His closest friends in the basti are also his classmates — Pari and Faiz. They are little children who are mostly left to fend for themselves while their parents work for those living in the neighbourhood’s hi-fi apartments. There is a constant undercurrent of violence that is prevalent in this community. These can range from the the sexual assault upon children in the dark alleys to hurling abuses at each other with one of the more favourite curses being called “rat eater” — a reference in all likelihood to the poorest of the poor, lowest in the social pecking order. It is a slum cluster that has people of different communities living together though as the book extract quoted above illustrates that everyone is very aware of the communal differences as well. Slowly over a period of time some of the children begin to disappear. At first given that they are all Hindus, suspicions are cast upon the Muslims living in the basti. But when the young Muslim siblings also disappear, the case begins to puzzle everyone. Unfortunately the communal tensions are exacerbated by now.
Jai and his friends decide to embark upon some of their own detective work to locate the kidnapper. Jai in his innocence coupled with a wild imagination is convinced that this is the handiwork of bad djinns. Nevertheless he is prepared to investigate realising that despite being bribed the policemen are really not interested in helping the affected families. It is not an easy task as the children are strapped for resources, especially finances, making their movement limited. Also they are viewed as poor kids who are not easily trusted by others, so information is not easily forthcoming. It is a challenging situation but the children do their best to find the truth. The novel develops at a steady pace with the focus maintained steadily upon the children while the sinister undertones in the background continue to develop. Whether it is petty politicians, opportunistic self-styled godmen, corrupt police officials, no one really cares for the well-being of the slum dwellers or the abandoned and orphaned kids eking out an existence as ragpickers on the garbage dump, being looked after a benevolent Bottle-Badshah. Yet the unexpected finale of the story comes together brilliantly where it seems fiction merges with reality by bringing up the ghosts of the infamous Nithari crime that was perpetrated upon the children living in the neighbourhood.
It is also extraordinary that Deepa Anappara has chosen to tell the story in a manner that she is probably most familiar with. She unapologetically blends desi words in her English storytelling framework. But the beauty of it all is that the non-English words are neveritalicised nor is the word or phrase explained immediately after its first appearance. It is a joy to behold this absolute acceptance of “foreign” words. A far cry from when Indian writers writing in English first began to publish novels — inevitably a glossary would be produced. No more.
One of the most obvious critiques of this book in coming days will be of it being a classic example of poverty porn and pandering to a preconceived notion of India. Having said that Deepa Anappara is to be commended for her masterful control of a complex subject. More importantly now that she is based abroad she is able to leverage her position as a woman of colour to write about the poverty back home while at the same time cleverly showcasing the distinct identities of the people and the very real preoccupations that govern daily existence. It could be from social ills such as alcoholism, unemployment, runaway or abandoned children, rampant problem of street children addicted to sniffing glue, lack of basic amenities such as sanitation and water, the poor quality of midday meals served in government run schools which the children yearn for as that is probably the only “proper” meal they will get in the day, high rate of school dropouts inevitably amongst the girls as they are required to be at home looking after their younger siblings, the growing menace of bullies, the manner in which women negotiate these spaces to run their households etc. The lives of the families and friends affected by the disappearance of the children is as traumatic a scenario as it is for you and I. These are people. Not necessarily people who can help prop up an exotic story. This socio-economic analysis that is presented in the garb of fiction without it seeming dreary like a pontificating thesis is not an easy task to achieve. Deepa Anappara manages to negotiate this space well.
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is the Vintage lead for 2020. It was won in nine-strong bidding auction at Frankfurt Book Fair 2018. In a joint acquisition with Penguin Random House India, Chatto & Windus won the UK and Commonwealth rights after a hard-fought auction with eight other publishers. A portion of this novel won the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, the Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award and the Bridport/Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award for a First Novel. This is a greatly anticipated debut that has been endorsed by a galaxy of literary stars such as Anne Enright, Ian McEwan, Chigozie Obioma, Nikesh Shukla, Nathan Filer, Mahesh Rao and Mridula Koshy. Deepa Anappara used to be a journalist in India before moving base to UK. Much of her research for this novel was based on her experience and reading seminal books on urban studies. This book stands apart from many other examples of equally promising debuts in the magnificence of Deepa Anappara’s craftsmanship in creating fine evenly toned fiction — not a mean feat for a debut author. The style of this book is very much akin to contemporary young adult literature. The dark gem of a novel that is Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line fits snugly with much of yalit even with its fairly realistic conclusion. The manuscript may or may not have begun life as yalit which the reading public may never know but it has been positioned as literary fiction. Somewhere the costs incurred in bidding for this book have to be recovered. Despite the yalit genre exploding with an amazing variety of writers, the segment lacks globally recognised literary prizes that will help increase book sales exponentially. But by positioning it as litfic for the trade market, the publishers are ensuring that this novel is eligible for many of the prominent literary prizes in the Anglo-American book market such as the Dylan Thomas Prize for debut writers, the Women Writers Prize for Fiction, the Booker Prize, the Costa First Book Award, National Book Awards etc. By launching it simultaneously across territories too makes this novel eligible for many local prizes. For instance in India there are the Crossword Book Award, JCB Prize, DSC Prize etc to be considered. And as is a truth universally acknowledged that being longlisted or shortlisted for a prize let alone winning it, boosts book sales tremendously. Thereby helping the publisher recover some of their investment costs in winning the auction and spending on the publicity campaign. A win-win situation for the author which in this case is very well deserved.
