who writes? kashmir, 9/11 and literature

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Literature is often a place of war. As a space for heated political contestation, it always offers the clearest possible insights into any realm of conflict. Two stories recently highlighted the enormity of the act of writing. Kashmir was preparing to host its first literary festival titled Harud and the website made its simplistic, "apolitical" agendas pretty clear - the emphasis on local writing, the evocation of a rich literary tradition and a way to celebrate "free speech." But after widespread protests and boycotts, they were forced to cancel the scheduled event. The opposing group of writers were shocked at the absurdity of an "apolitical" event in a place racked by repression, brutality, draconian laws, human rights violations and the lack of the most basic freedoms. In a joint letter, the group states: "We fear, therefore, that holding such a festival would, willy-nilly, dovetail with the state’s concerted attempt to portray that all is normal in Kashmir. Even as the reality on the ground is one of utter abnormality and a state of acute militarization and suppression of dissent, rights and freedoms." In light of this, the festival's focus on themes like "silenced voices" and "jail diaries" appeared nothing but trite. The whole issue also reinforced the fact that festivals which by virtue of their existence want to celebrate a flowering of literature and arts are often political tools to emphasize freedom and normalcy in places torn by violence and oppression.

Elsewhere, revealing a completely different mindset, BBC ran a piece about which novel best reflects the decade in the aftermath of 9/11. A chart showed that 1433 non-fiction works, 164 fiction and 145 juvenile works have been published that somehow depict the tragedy. While the writers from Kashmir wanted a deliberate, carefully thought-out process that would encapsulate the reality of Kashmir and its horrifying, violent history, the BBC story captured the rush to represent and solidify the event within the collective consciousness. Even though the comparison between the two may seem abrupt, what struck me was the fact that here are two different places contemplating the aftermaths of something very tragic and violent, yet, one story is so light and unfettered while the other is completely burdened by the very act of representation.

The BBC article also fails to grasp that while 9/11 may have happened in New York, the long term effects of it are also being felt in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo and every other site of rendition, torture and other American atrocities in the name of a global war on terror. The exclusion of those stories also speaks volumes when it comes to the breezy light-hearted tone of the 9/11 article. The issue here is, of course, the shameless commercialism and consumerism attached to any event, big or small. That is the frame from which the article emerges and it focuses only on the bestseller English-language novels about 9/11 and leaves out almost everything else. If there is a true attempt to understand the history of the 9/11 aftermaths, there will be very different questions asked and articles like this one by will only serve to make us cringe.

children's "lingerie", an oxymoron?

Scandals hold up the best possible mirror to society. Through the moral, aesthetic or ethical limits that a scandal may push, we are forced to connect to the most righteous side of ourselves. Scandals are rarely about the subject at hand but about the levels of tolerance, hypocrisy and contradictions we practice on a daily basis. Recently, a french company that is claiming to make lingerie for children aged 4 to 12 years has become a subject of a lot of uproar and bashing. Jour Apres Lunes has photographed a lot of young girls prancing around in frilly underwear, tank tops, bikini tops with make up and oversized pearls on. They are also in the heels of a controversial photo shoot in French Vogue. Whats the problem? Well, television pundits, bloggers and critics seem to find these young girls overly sexualized and their adult-like, flirtatious stances have been deemed "a pedophile's dream."
 

While it seems like the perfect opportunity to vent at the French and their loose sexual mores, it is also time to reflect on something France's most prolific philosopher once wrote. In Mythologies, Roland Barthes has a small vignette on Toys where he observes, "All the toys one commonly sees are essentially a microcosm of the adult world; they are all reduced copies of human objects, as if in the eyes of the public the child was, all told, nothing but a smaller man, a homunculus to whom must be supplied objects of his own size." He argues that toys prepare and embed the child into an adult world from the earliest possible stage. We turn our children into consumers, not creators or innovators. In every single culture in the world, nothing could be farther from the truth.

5 books we are anticipating this fall

Crossbones by Nuruddin Farah

Following Links and then Knots, Crossbones will complete the Somali novelist's third trilogy. It will continue his reflection upon the state of civil war, piracy, family, brotherhood, healing and rebirth. More than anything, it offers the only illuminating perspective on what is Somalia today. It may not answer your questions but it is sure to ask all the right questions.

1Q84 by Haruki Marukami

Marukami's three volume narrative with the title spin on George Orwell's 1984 has been a sensation since its Japanese debut in 2010. Finally, the translation hits the shelves this October. Running well over a thousand pages, don't miss this master's surreal and intriguing reflections on Japan's contemporary culture. 

Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Mattar

Because it is time to understand Libya and it's most accomplished novelist in the English language, this novel is a much anticipated event. A coming of age story about a troubled family, it promises to be lyrical and poignant. Set in Egypt but depicting an interiorized Libyan universe, it will offer us insights into a region much-maligned by the West. 

hating on online dating!

Trust the New Yorker to take on a hip, progressive subject and give it an unnaturally depressing, smug and aged spin. Nick Paumgarten recently chose to tackle the epic phenomenon of our times - online dating. As we excitedly began to read, the very beginning signaled trouble! The dull historical approach became evident with the first sentence:

"In the fall of 1964, on a visit to the World’s Fair, in Queens, Lewis Altfest, a twenty-five-year-old accountant, came upon an open-air display called the Parker Pen Pavilion, where a giant computer clicked and whirred at the job of selecting foreign pen pals for curious pavilion visitors. You filled out a questionnaire, fed it into the machine, and almost instantly received a card with the name and address of a like-minded participant in some far-flung locale—your ideal match." [ Read article here]

It was not just that Paumgarten was referencing antiquated notions like World Fairs, pen-pals, staid pavilions and machines that whirred but the fact that it seemed like this article had very little interest in the tantalizing psychological and social intensities of online daters that make this phenomenon exciting. Instead, he chose this fuddy-duddy historical route talking about programmers and pseudo-science behind it all. We were not wrong in getting all of this from the first paragraph.

straight people, get a life!

Ever gotten that sense of self-revulsion and embarrassment when you find your hands automatically clicking on a predictable and shallow advice column on dating, sex, love or relationships? I must confess that it is a rare day that goes by when I haven't clicked on some pseudo-psychology column written by seemingly eminent PhDs and supported by the most suspicious of surveys. Why are these little columns so addictive?  

At the surface level, there is the obvious - anyone involved in dating and love issues is often in puzzling, murky territory and and there is nothing wrong in resorting to some pop psychology suggestions to figure out if things are working out or wondering if you're reading every line and signal wrong. Sounds harmless enough so far. But....

It is the actual advice and the reality about straight men and women that it posits which is deeply perturbing. These days, I find that people are bored to tears about any debate that harks back to gender relations, gender representations and gender equality. The idea that kiosks filled with women posing half-naked, half-starved on magazine covers are being objectified, or the fact that the US is weak on strong female leaders, or that our obsession with celeb weddings and princess gowns keep us confined in a tight heteronormative bind are all notions that people roll their eyes at. The list of excuses is long and analytically abortive: so passe, so lame, we are so over it, this aint the fifties, I already fulfilled my gender bender college course requirement, I have a gay friend....so on and so forth. 

Nothing reflects the backward and constantly regressing mode of our heterosexual selves as these advice columns. Loosely speaking,they are divided into a few main categories - dating, understanding men and sexual tips. The sexual tips category more or less fulfills the role of erotica, the highly narrativised tips are meant to titillate and offer a little sneaky reading pleasure. While it is not exactly a progressive way of discussing sex, at least the focus on female orgasms redeems these passages a little bit. 

power of stories

After much cringing, below is something to make our hearts warm and proud. It is an old speech but still resonates with me everytime I listen to it. The immensely talented Chimamanda cautions us about the single story and its consequences so eloquently and beautifully that one cant help but fall in love with her. That is, if one hasnt already after reading her novels. 

un"fair" beyond belief

The super-smart and super-indignant, Neelika Jayawardhane gets to the heart of a problem with no end in sight - naturally darker skinned people wanting to become fair and the entire consumer industry around it. Read here and cringe. I mean, really really cringe!

pure bullshit of pregnancy tourism!

This astounding story showcases, in a single sweep, so many things that are wrong with the world; racism, poverty, ignorance, raping an indigenous people.. the list can go on. Without doubt, the idea of the pregnancy tourist seeking a racially pure seed is primitive and disgusting. But we have heard of the white American couple desiring adoption or surrogacy that leafs through a catalogue for the blond, Ivy-leagued, so-called superior sperm. So how is this any different?! What makes this phenomenon more egregious I imagine is the hark back to colonial plundering, the holocaust or other past racism of epic proportions. Circa 2011. Just want to say, I feel very sharminda.

daniel mendelsohn, why so snarky?

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Daniel Mendelsohn takes on the monumental task of critiquing Mad Men here. Almost everything he says makes perfect sense - the understanding of nostalgia as a primary shaping factor for the show, the way in which Weiner leaves many plotlines hanging, the weak treatment of homosexuality and race, the often bland acting, the fetish and over-consumerism now attached to the style of the period and the depth with which children actors really make the show extremely special.

I am so very puzzled, however, by his snarky tone.  There is no real room for it in writing about a show that seems to have gripped the critic and while we are often angry with ourselves for giving in to repulsive television, liking Mad Men could hardly fit that bill. I suspect Mendelsohn is annoyed because of the reverance with which the show has been spoken about until now, as if its a sacred space, untouchable, flawless, perfect. Maybe it is impossible to break that particular hushed sacredness without punching a little hard at it!

With or without the snark, this is still a fabulous analysis! Do read...