nov 21st, 2008
looks like a fabulous biography. i think i'll get hold of a copy and read it asap.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/books/review/Packer-t.html?_r=1&8bu=&emc=bua1&pagewanted=all
why is it that great artists are often great ogres too? one that wasn't was o v vijayan -- a magnificent human being and novelist, arguably the greatest indian writer of the 20th century, yes, even better than ashapurna devi and tarashankar banerjee and bhyrappa and all the indo-anglian writers.
8 comments:
Rajeev,
Keep your comments to yourself about O Vijayan's greatness! You have not read Shivaram Karanth in Kannada (Bhyrappa is a genius as well!). So O Vijayan may be the "greatest 20" indian writer to you, an opinion not necessarily shared by your many readers of yours.
This may be your blog. But do keep in mind that non-malayalees also read it. Try to be a bit all inclusive. Otherwise, it proves to be a bit irritating reading your "Hindu Centric" blogs when you often yourself get so parochial!
dont get your knickers in a twist, kannada magane.
it is my considered opinion -- and i prefaced it with "arguably" -- that vijayan was the best. you are welcome to your opinion, and you are free to argue that karanth was better (or even that u r ananthamurthy or girish karnad are, although that is laughable prima facie -- are you reading this, sandeep of sandeepweb?). i can certainly make a case that vijayan was in fact a superior writer.
and i am sure the tamil boys believe strongly that somebody like sujata is the greatest. and surely the bengalis will chip in with mahasweta devi or somebody. it is hard to prove these things, really, it is a matter of opinion.
@Raja,
I dont know what made you react that way but you forgot that this is Rajeev's blog and he has every right to write about his opinion.
I have read the post and I never thought that Rajeev wasa making any parochial statement. I am an Andhrite and think that the greatest ever is someone from telugu literature. Each one of us is entitled to have our own opinions limited to our "rationality".
I urge you to read something on "bounded rationality".
PS: Bangalore is my second home and I know Kannada to a good extent and I would say Karanth is one of the best but U R Ananthamurthy is a nut...anyday :D
I just finished reading this biography - and it is worth every penny I paid for it. Naipaul's first wife actually comes across as the consummate Indian woman, the very model of patient endurance (Sahansheel in Hindi / Sanskrit) - not the typical Anglo-Saxon self-centered Hyena. It actually explains the prodigious output of the man - that he was able to lean on her so long (and yet treated her so badly)
If you have read his second book on travel to Islamic lands (Beyond Belief) - it will open up a chapter at the end of the book in a whole new light. It is called "The Bomoh's Son". That chapter has a haunting, almost lyrical quality. However, I was not sure why it found a place in the book - it was very good, but sort of unrelated to the other character's the author met. A mentally ill man who talks in English and his native language - depending on whether he is lucid or relapsed back to mental illness.
That passage seemed a sudden, sharp break. Only now I realise it was auto-biographical. Naipaul was writing about his own mentally ill father. A wonderful tribute in prose - the man is a true genius
Rajeev,
SL Bhyrappa is not an Indo-Anglian writer. He writes in Kannada and is certainly our most scholarly writer of fiction. His dissertation "Satya mattu Soundarya" on aesthetics is acclaimed to be a masterpiece in its own right. Everyone has his opinions on the latest and the greatest. I don't. SLB is certainly the most popular Indian writer in India, and the most widely translated with some of his books having been translated into over 12 languages.
OK so hile you guys fight over Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu I will throw my hat into the ring. Jayakantan - the greatest!
truti, i am very much aware that bhyrappa is not an indo-anglian writer. i have read, and seen, vamsa vrksha. also, we discussed 'aavarana' on this blog some time ago.
btw, katha brings out good anthologies of indian writing translated into english.
is jayakantan the person who wrote ponniyin selvan? i understand it is a masterpiece.
interesting thing about ov vijayan, most of his work is available in english translation done by him, and the translations are sometimes even better than the original malayalam, eg. the wart, after the hanging. sadly, his final masterpiece, 'generations' is not translated -- he died too soon. do read my review of it on rediff.
ghostwriter, i have been fascinated by naipaul and his obsession with his dad -- always trying to live up to the fantasy the father had of himself as a writer. didn't know this about 'beyond belief' -- the homage to sivaprasad. i don't actually have a copy, but your comments make me want to get hold of it.
i think naipaul is almost certainly the greatest living writer of english in the world these days. i used to think that of graham greene -- esp. his classics like 'the end of the affair', 'brighton rock', and 'the power and the glory'. even what he termed "entertainments" like 'the quiet american' and 'our man in havana' were outstanding.
i must get hold of the biography. thanks for the review. isn't it sad that it took the destruction of one woman (or maybe two) for naipaul's genius to flower?
Guys,
aa no bhadraaH kratavo yantu vishvath
Let's not fight over opinions okay? Bhyrappa or Karanth or OVV are writers great in their own right. It's perfectly okay to have one's favorites. The thing with regional writing is that Rajeev likes OVV simply because he can enjoy the complete eseence/depth/breadth/whatever in the original. So while I've read the Legends of Khasak and Saga of Dharmapuri in English, I'm sure the original Malayalam carries infinite punch. Thus with Bhyrappa and others.
>>(or even that u r ananthamurthy or girish karnad are, although that is laughable prima facie -- are you reading this, sandeep of sandeepweb?).
Yes :-) And that reminds me to start a series on URA's "literary" worth in line with Karnad.
Peace.
Sandeep
www.sandeepweb.com
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