the inheritance of talent
So Kiran Desai won the Booker. Been meaning to read the book, and now I definitely will. It's kinda sad though...I think Anita Desai is quite possibly one of the best contemporary writers in English around, yet she's never won and now her daughter has. I know, I know, it's not fair, i'm pre-judging her (Kiran, i mean), but how do you step out from the shadow of the simplest yet most intricately woven, profound writing around? Guess i'll have to read the book to find out.
Already everybody's doing the "joining the ranks of Rushdie/Naipaul" shpeel. Well frankly if that's the case, i really hope that beyond ethnicity, she doesn't share their racist postcolonial upper-class chest-thumping. Ahh, Rushdie...I learnt so much from you, I really did. You gave me a true-blue half-decent desi anti/postcolonial education (all those As on my English papers really helped push my GPA up) and it was fun while it lasted, but I am so over you. And thank you for supporting Jack Straw on the whole "veils suck" thing; now I fully comprehend what Fanon meant about the native bourgeousie sucking up to the colonizer.
Anyway, I'm getting suspicious about the calibre of the judges of this Oscars-of-literature contest. Here's a direct quote from Hermione Lee, chairman of the judges:
"The remarkable thing about Kiran Desai is that she is aware of her Anglo-Indian inheritance - of V S Naipaul and R K Narayan and Salman Rushdie - but she does some pioneering."
Apparently the judges can't even tell the difference between an Anglo-Indian and Indo-Anglian writer. Bring on the mangoes, mehndi, masala, I say.
Already everybody's doing the "joining the ranks of Rushdie/Naipaul" shpeel. Well frankly if that's the case, i really hope that beyond ethnicity, she doesn't share their racist postcolonial upper-class chest-thumping. Ahh, Rushdie...I learnt so much from you, I really did. You gave me a true-blue half-decent desi anti/postcolonial education (all those As on my English papers really helped push my GPA up) and it was fun while it lasted, but I am so over you. And thank you for supporting Jack Straw on the whole "veils suck" thing; now I fully comprehend what Fanon meant about the native bourgeousie sucking up to the colonizer.
Anyway, I'm getting suspicious about the calibre of the judges of this Oscars-of-literature contest. Here's a direct quote from Hermione Lee, chairman of the judges:
"The remarkable thing about Kiran Desai is that she is aware of her Anglo-Indian inheritance - of V S Naipaul and R K Narayan and Salman Rushdie - but she does some pioneering."
Apparently the judges can't even tell the difference between an Anglo-Indian and Indo-Anglian writer. Bring on the mangoes, mehndi, masala, I say.
posted by burgers and durians at
10:16 PM
4 Comments:
interesting...i haven't read anita or kiran...will have to put them on the reading list.
Anita's really good. Her language is misleading in its simplicity...she's not easy to read. But you will be duly rewarded. Maybe try 'The Village by the Sea' first - it's her 'young adult' fiction.
i actually was at this really great used booksale this weekend and picked up super cheap copies of in custody, clear light of day, fasting feasting & hullabaloo...! when i will do all this reading, i don't know. i didn't see village by the sea, but will keep an eye out for it. thanks for the tip.
wow, score!
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