Book: Happiness and Nabakov

In her book The Enchanter - Nabakov and Happiness- by Lila Azam Zanganeh reviewer Alexander Theroux writes about Nabakov:

Oversimplying the Nabokovian equation, Ms. Zanganeh sees this Russian-American author almost exclusively as "the great writer of happiness." She glances at various kinds of delight and joy in his work, focusing mainly on the theme of love. ("Love—the claire-obscure arabesque of the Nabokovian universe.") In a typical bout of flattery, she holds Vladimir and Vera, his wife, up as a nearly perfect loving couple. Cloyingly she writes: "We know nothing of their private lives. Except that they slept in adjoining rooms. Perhaps he tiptoed to hers. And late into the night, he would look at her, lying naked, supine, gray-blue eyes lifted skyward. Then soundlessly, he would again disappear in the dark haze of his room."

Nabakov was a lepidopterist and couldn't drive. He was a polyglot who could write with ease in English, Russian and a few other languages. He depended on his wife to drive him on his butterfly collection expeditions, the result of which is that he has a genus of butterflies named after him. He was also a snob and a curmudgeon belittling other writers in no mean terms. Another writer remembers sending a gift and a book to be autographed and receiving them back - the present unaccepted and the book unautographed.

So that's one who was one of the most talented writers in the world. The strange world of writing is enigmatic, what shall I say?

My Blog's Book Ranking is 608

There's good news. Earlier I had reported that my blog's book rank was in the top 1000 in the world on Technorati. The good news is that it has jumped further with some concentrated blogging on books and is now 608. Here's proof

Sylvia Whitman's Attempt to Re-Design Shakespeare & Co.

I came to know about Shakespeare & Co. through the eponymous literary group on Ryze.com and now Facebook. I didn't know of its past. But through this article kindly posted  by the moderator Pragya Thakur of Shakespeare & Co. network of writers, I came to know a bit about the bookshop and bohemian beatnik joint that was and is Shakespeare & Co. It's here in this article.

James Joyce frequented it, so did the beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Ernst Hemingway browsed in its modest portals. What could be more sacred space for a writer? Nothing, really. It may be disorganised, chaotic and mismanaged, but who cares as long as there are books?

It seems the bookstore was the home of itinerant writers who used to live, sleep, read, and, sort of, vegetate in its book-filled environment. I can imagine what would it do to a city such as Bombay. Oh, forget it. If you browse books in Bombay you get the bum's rush. "Leneka hai tho lo, kali pili book padh ke timepass nahi karneka, kya?" or "Kya sab gyan muft me chahiye kya?" These are a few of the thousands of Bombay's insults which also forms a part of my forthcoming novel. 

His daughter (Sylvia Whitman) wants to re-design the bookshop but the old man (George Whitman) goes around showing an employee what to change back to its original state. I say long live George Whitman and his ilk!

Hat tips: Pragya Thakur for the link.

Old man, rest in peace!

Another death. A neighbour. I had written about the deaths that were occurring one after the other. Then, yesterday when I was going for my morning spell of badminton, I noticed a few people standing outside the door of a house similar to mine. There was something odd about the way they stood. A silence, as if for someone who died.

Yes. The silence spoke of death as silence does. Mostly. One of my neighbour, it was, that death beckoned. I don't know his name. He may have been around his sixties. I never spoke a few words with him. We used to see each other when we were out walking and I would think of something cheerful to say (in Marathi) and when he came near he would turn his face away.I wondered at this strange behaviour and was a bit offended. Was he a religious bigot. A Matha-brandan (religious-maddened person), as we say in Kerala? I decided not to speak to him at all. (The Englishmen I worked with in Saudi Arabia used to do that, especially Peter W. He was my boss. When I would come face-to-face with me around the office and around the project on which we were working, he would turn his face away. I would think of saying "Good morning" and I would see the head turning, turning in the opposite direction. Something personal? Is it my body language? Is it something else? Some hygiene issues [You know the English know about our back-washing habit forming part of our morning ablution. They are the wiping sort. We both detest the other due to this cultural difference. But that can cancel out each other, can't it?] Be so kind as to elaborate.)

Now I think it was some personal disappointment that would make them do that. They were in some deep mediatative state about some problem. Some block in their minds that wouldn't go away, something not superficial but touching a deep chord. Peter W. became very sick after those episodes (with malaria) and became a white wraith of a man.The above neighbour also had his reasons, I discovered through wifey, which follows:

He had two daughters. Both were married. The elder one's husband abandoned her. The reason was, you won't believe this: he wanted a daughter son (I confuse genders) and the woman gave him a daughter. He abandoned her and married another woman. Aside: I think my father should have committed suicide when he had three daughters in a row, before this blogger was born. End Aside. The daughter came back to live with the old man bringing along with her her daughter, a beautiful little girl. The man was broken in mind and body. His walks were intended to get peace, but peace never came. His looks were full of a secret despair which he never told anyone. He never could. He passed off in his sleep.

Old man, rest in peace! Sorry I couldn't speak to you and understand your problem. I must go sleep some to wake up to another futile day.

A Question of Writers' Quotes: Post Osama

The following quote attributed to Martin Luther King Jr. has been appearing all over the net and in social media apropros of the death of Bin Laden.

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

However, Seth Abramovitch, writing in gawker.com has his doubts, which seem valid enough. He feels that the first sentence is completely fabricated, because King Jr. hasn't seen or experienced any deaths totalling the loss of thousands of lives.

The opponents of the above quote have their own quote of dubious origin attributed to Mark Twain (trust the social media to be schizophrenic):

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure."

Turns out it was actually said by Clarence Darrow, not Mark Twain.

Jo Ann Beard's Book "In Zanesville"

Another novel coming from Little, Brown & Co. is In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard. In a review by Martha Woodall, the reviewer mentions the story of two adolescent girls circa 1970 when babysitting was 75 cents an hour. To quote the reviewer:

In Zanesville turns out to be a brisk, rewarding journey through adolescence in the American heartland circa 1970 with the unnamed narrator and her best friend Felicia - "Flea" for short - as our guides.

"Being a teenager so far hasn't gotten me anything beyond period cramps and nameless yearning, which I had as kid, too, but this is a new kind of nameless yearning that has boys attached to it," 

The pair of girls navigates teenhood agonising about boys and the pains of growing up in the seventies.

"My mother's own bras are large quilted things that I used to think were funny. Now when I see them on the laundry table, one cup folded into the other, I have a sense of impending doom. It's like being on your way to the Alps and knowing that when you get there you'll have to wear lederhosen."

Much as I like American novels set in the sixties and seventies when Erich Segal's Love Story became a hit and John Updike made his appearance, I would love to get my hands on this novel, providence willing.

The Obama Limerick

The Obama Limerick

Once there was a president named Obama
He was after a man named Osama
Both shared the letter "O"
With a sexy Bollywood star named Bebo
Of whom handsome Saif Ali was the Beau.

Gerard Donovan's Debut Book and What I Call "Screen Circumcision"

What happens when your first novel is gently criticised for being religious and conservative and also about a rash of sex assaults in Dublin, Ireland? Gerard Donovan's debut novel is about all these and more and a reviewer writes that the story is "Marred by its telling." I do understand.

Understand the author's perspective. He spends days and months and years putting together a novel for a critic to demolish it in a few words. How inconsiderate! As a writer I feel apprehensive. That what makes me defensive about my work. If anyone demolishes my work (on which I am working at present)... well... beware! Don't tell me I didn't warn you.

My novel is in its third edit. I guess writing on a laptop has its disadvantages. You get what I may call "screen circumcision". I mean the precedent and the aftermath is hidden when you are concentrating on 780 by 40 pixels which is what a standard laptop screen is in most cases. You get astigmatism of a digital sort as you can't go back and forth. Your mind is blind to a little wandering and cross checking of events.

All this you realise when you take a print out of your novel. Ah! There are glaring mistakes there and you set out to correct and edit. Which is what I am doing now, with the printed pages of my novel. Writer's need to beware of "screen circumcision" which is a dangerous thing for a short story or a longer version of it.

What the Books Say about Vasco Da Gama

Historical books portray Vaco Da Gama as a benevolent sort of man, the sort that would fit the description of a grandfather. At least, that's what I thought when I read in books about this pioneer who discovered the west coast of India for Europeans. However, here's a contrary view on Maddy's blog:
 

Vasco Da Gama is considered by many to be a great navigator, a shrewd leader and a diplomat in history books. But was he really that? Did he have a violent streak? If you dig deep into history books, you will find that he indeed had a violent streak and this was exhibited many times, though it was all far away from home and in trading lands, especially those he subdued with the power of the gun. This unlettered though crude and many a time sadistically violent sailor was nevertheless loyal to his king and proved fearless until his death. By today's legal yardsticks and violence that Europe eschews, he would be rotting away in jails for his actions. Then again this was a long time ago, when might was perhaps, right and where it was proven by the power of a bigger gun and dishonest warring techniques. Vasco was after all, to summarize, as a detailed study of events that transpired after 1497 proves, brutal and single-minded, cunning, rash and suspicious. According to Sanjay Subrahmanyam, the "systematic use of violence at sea" was introduced after the arrival of the Portuguese.

Maddy writes an engaging blog about things historical. Especially the history of Kerala.

Why I Am Not a Big Fan of e-Books

A journalist from New York Times mailed me for a quote on e-books, whether I am for it or against it and the following is the quote I gave her. See if you agree. Was I right, or wrong? Do I see a future for e-books? I frankly think it will be the end of books as we know it if e-books succeed to dislodge traditional book publishers. Tell me, could we use e-book readers in the class room? How many students could afford it? What are the channels for distribution other than Amazon? Many issues remain unanswered. 

The quote:

I consider e-books as secondary to legitimate bound-book publishing. If my novel isn't published by a big established publisher, then I will look at the option of an e-book. The reason is the failure of google books and that good books and novels aren't available yet in e-book format. Traditional publishers have their own distribution outlets and skills in marketing a book. An e-book reader such as Kindle costs a lot of money. It's money upfront. For that money I can buy a hundred books. So why should I go for e-book publishing? 

Besides there is something about walking into a bookstore, holding a book, leafing through it pages that gives a thrill. An e-book doesn't give that thrill. It's made of plastic not textured paper. I am writing a novel and if traditional publishing fails I will go for an e-books edition. I have a day job so it doesn't matter if I make money or not.

Unquote