The Typical Indian Novel
It seems there is such an animal, and that it has been around for 25 years at least. I must have missed the memo.
There are certain books that are so similar to one another they almost beg to be grouped together. This is largely true of Indian novels. Look closely at the ones published in the past, say, 25 years, and you’ll see that they’re virtually identical, in theme if not in style and content.Oh, right: Amitav Ghosh, Shashi Deshpande, Raj Kamal Jha, Kiran Desai, Kiran Nagarkar, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Manju Kapur, Amit Chaudhuri, Neelum Saran Gour, Samit Basu, Rupa Bajwa, and all the others are writing the same novel over and over again?For me, Midnight’s Children is indivisible from A Fine Balance, which in turn cannot be separated from A Suitable Boy. Directly or indirectly, all three books - and there are other notable examples - are concerned with the same thing: the state of Indian society in the wake of independence and partition.
Chandra’s novel is hatke and I love it, but India’s a big country, people are writing all sorts of different novels, so please, Mr Thompson, go read some of them before lumping them all together.
(link via Amitava Kumar)
Also see Edward Champion’s post here:
Thompson also suggests that Midnight’s Children and A Fine Balance are “indivisible.” This, despite the fact that the former contains a protagonist with a highly sensitive nose and the latter does not, the former chronicles Indian history from 1910 to 1976, while the latter takes place during The Emergency between 1975 and 1977. There are infinite differences in language, characters, and plotting. But don’t tell Thompson this. So long as those brown-skinned people are banging out those novels, there isn’t a single distinction in his eyes.Maybe it would have been better to kill the opening paragraph, says Galley Cat.
‘.. but India’s a big country, people are writing all sorts of different novels,..’
i’m not sure.
Comment by kuffir — August 29, 2006 @ 5:09 pm
I wish to God that this were not true, but Indian writing is not very different from Indian cinema. Except for a blessed few unique experiences, English novels by Indian authors are all as formulaic as the movies they eventually become. And yes, I have come to this conclusion after reading a large majority of the authors you have listed, and others. There are probably five books in English by Indians that have left an impact on my mind, and that is a woefully small number, given the huge number of authors our country has produced.
Comment by Sumant — August 29, 2006 @ 5:18 pm
But literature everywhere is like that…? It takes very good novels to elevate themselves out of the turgid sea of literary fiction regardless of race or sex or sexual orientation.
Comment by roswitha — August 30, 2006 @ 1:09 pm
There aren’t too many writers and they haven’t been writing for long. As a group these writers have come into their own only, what, in the last 20 years . But still, though we can always do with more diversity, that comment is not accurate at all.
Comment by Alok — August 30, 2006 @ 4:19 pm
All Chinese people look alike.
Comment by km — August 30, 2006 @ 7:02 pm
Racism is alive and well in Scotland - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/4284023.stm
Comment by John — August 30, 2006 @ 11:04 pm
Kuffir: Why are you not sure?
Sumant: That’s a pity. My experience has been much more encouraging.
Comment by Uma — September 4, 2006 @ 12:49 am
i haven’t read half of them.. that is one reason why i am not sure.
i did see a pattern : most of them come from similar backgrounds, from different regions, yes..but you can see they’re all from the metropolises for one..which rather limits their canvas/es. most of them seem to aim to do the ‘big’ indian novel - one that would be held up as defining, seminal etc., most of them primarily concerned with one/two subjects - themselves or india itself..there’s not much diversity in genres - i wish there were people writing thrillers, detective stories, even romances etc., but as i said, my knowledge on the current lot of writers is limited..one reason why i visit your blog so regularly and with..interest.
Comment by kuffir — September 5, 2006 @ 3:13 pm
hi i would love to now more about your lanuage
Comment by tim — November 14, 2007 @ 1:53 pm
is there anyone who can tell me the address of manju kapur ,the famous writer of difficult daughters?
Comment by mini — July 9, 2008 @ 2:23 pm