Strange that Cohen should write on Naipaul’s earlier novel and you should post it. I am currently re-reading “A Bend in the River” - as preparation for another book on Africa that Naipaul is releasing in the fall (called the Masque of Africa). I think I will wait for Naipaul’s book for a realistic, more nuanced optimism on South Africa - as opposed to the “I love these guys – I am a liberal” picture painted by Cohen. A lot of the educated, professional classes have left SA – for the UK (god knows why), Canada, Australia and the US. Without a social capital base nothing will be possible – and all the social capital is running away. SA may be left with many Ferdinand’s (from Naipaul’s novel) – not quite a Big Man, but not the brightest bulb on the ceiling. There is emigration from India too (as I can attest) – but Indians retain links with the motherland, and dream of going back one day. SA emigration is of another kind – as if a gold rush has ended and people are running away with whatever they can put in their carts, before the vultures descend. There is a sizeable SA expat community here in Vancouver (mostly whites and Chinese, wonder where all the Gujarati descendants are going). SA may have a demographic dividend – but that means nothing if all the young are struggling with AIDS
Finally – ‘Big Man’ is the distillation of a complex psychological study - an embodiment of ‘black men assuming the lies of white men’. I am not sure what relationship football Prima Donnas (who are really showmen) have with Big Man– think Cohen caught the columnists’ disease of writing something for the sake of the deadline!
ghostwriter, coincidence indeed. i appreciate naipaul's insights -- surely the man can write! the last one i read was 'a million mutinies now', which is far more optimistic than the earlier 'wounded civilization'.
i didn't know his new book is coming out. but i liked his earlier books on africa. darn, that reminds me, must read more fiction.
i agree that cohen suffers from liberal white guilt and the jewish guilt of having survived. so his writing is a little skewed, but his views on SA cannot be dismissed, as he is a fond native son.
he is stretching, i agree, with his big man analogy.
but the reason why 60 years of kkkangressi indian science has not produced one single world-class discovery is because of the Big Man syndrome in labs and universities. astonishingly, when the imperialists were here, we had srinivasa ramanujan, jc bose, and cv raman. with the soviet-style Big Men (eg. the 3rd rate louts from JNU) we have... ramar pillai (of biodiesel fame).
4 comments:
Rajeev is your comment a reference to Gandhi or Nehru?
Off topic: Latest Electric Car Will Be a BMW
“The departure from fossil fuels is an irreversible trend.”
Strange that Cohen should write on Naipaul’s earlier novel and you should post it. I am currently re-reading “A Bend in the River” - as preparation for another book on Africa that Naipaul is releasing in the fall (called the Masque of Africa). I think I will wait for Naipaul’s book for a realistic, more nuanced optimism on South Africa - as opposed to the “I love these guys – I am a liberal” picture painted by Cohen. A lot of the educated, professional classes have left SA – for the UK (god knows why), Canada, Australia and the US. Without a social capital base nothing will be possible – and all the social capital is running away. SA may be left with many Ferdinand’s (from Naipaul’s novel) – not quite a Big Man, but not the brightest bulb on the ceiling. There is emigration from India too (as I can attest) – but Indians retain links with the motherland, and dream of going back one day. SA emigration is of another kind – as if a gold rush has ended and people are running away with whatever they can put in their carts, before the vultures descend. There is a sizeable SA expat community here in Vancouver (mostly whites and Chinese, wonder where all the Gujarati descendants are going).
SA may have a demographic dividend – but that means nothing if all the young are struggling with AIDS
Finally – ‘Big Man’ is the distillation of a complex psychological study - an embodiment of ‘black men assuming the lies of white men’. I am not sure what relationship football Prima Donnas (who are really showmen) have with Big Man– think Cohen caught the columnists’ disease of writing something for the sake of the deadline!
sactown bobby, take a wild guess :-)
ghostwriter, coincidence indeed. i appreciate naipaul's insights -- surely the man can write! the last one i read was 'a million mutinies now', which is far more optimistic than the earlier 'wounded civilization'.
i didn't know his new book is coming out. but i liked his earlier books on africa. darn, that reminds me, must read more fiction.
i agree that cohen suffers from liberal white guilt and the jewish guilt of having survived. so his writing is a little skewed, but his views on SA cannot be dismissed, as he is a fond native son.
he is stretching, i agree, with his big man analogy.
but the reason why 60 years of kkkangressi indian science has not produced one single world-class discovery is because of the Big Man syndrome in labs and universities. astonishingly, when the imperialists were here, we had srinivasa ramanujan, jc bose, and cv raman. with the soviet-style Big Men (eg. the 3rd rate louts from JNU) we have... ramar pillai (of biodiesel fame).
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