Farewell, Two Women
Do writers have a moral obligation?and Qurratulain Hyder, about whose Aag ka Darya Kumkum Sangasri writes:Oh, I think all human beings do. So if all human beings have it, then writers have some, too. I mean, why should they get off the hook? Whatever your calling is, whether it’s as a plumber or an artist, you have to make sure there’s a little more justice in the world when you leave it than when you found it. Most writers do that naturally, see that more lives are illuminated, try to understand what is not understood and see what hasn’t been seen.
Aag ka Darya held together, concurrently, a vast temporal and spatial ‘civilizational’ spread that asked now for a loyalty that was different from older loyalties of region, religion, or language; a loyalty to the idea of civilization that was wider, deeper, and more compelling than its division into separate nations.
(via Prufrock and Amitava Kumar)
Sangasri’s review is so cluttered with clunky phrases and a GRE list of words arbitrarily stung together that I gave up mid-way. I think a number of Indians writing in English (and we seem to be habitual offenders)need to be handed a copy of The Elements of Style and taught that simplicity is the essence of good writing and indicative of clear thought.
Uma, criticism only directed at link, I like the way you write.
Comment by shama — August 25, 2007 @ 12:31 am