From my note book
“Into the light of things”
Bhaskar J nath
when we were studying in university internet was not accessible barring a few cities in Assam. Launched in the late 90’s by Videsh Sanchar Nigam it was yet to penetrate into the muffassils and semi urban areas . I remember the huge umbrella shaped dishes installed on the roof top of the big varsity library and bee lines of enthusiastic internet savvy students at the computer centre waiting for his turn to surf internet for stipulated one hour . Orkut was the popular social media among the youths . Even today I feel it was way better than present day Facebook where ruling regimes, corporates can use to its advantage . Facebook with its numerous commercial adverts, covert support to state apparatus has become a dangerous capitalistic weapon . Internet has made things easy . Now a days serious readers can easily get full access to the top literary journals through subscription which was almost impossible earlier . NewYorker is one of those journals which claims to have emboldened the establishment of distinguished writers like John Updike , Sallinger , Chiveer etc.It was started in 1925 as weekly journal . For upcoming story tellers and poets getting published in this journal means reaching the pinnacle of success . Writers are bound to get a book contract after publish of their works . But there are many untold stories which always remains secret . Newyorker has corollary to the now defunct Quarterly Review . In Quarterly Review editors and writers often use to write rave reviews of their books and novels under pen name and alleged that the journal seldom showed interest in the works of new authors . There is a very interesting story about Newyorker. Daniel Wallace ,author of six books , now a distinguished professor of English at the university of North Carolina in Chapel Hill has been submitting his stories at Newyorker since 1984 and not a single story is published yet. It may sound very strange and unbelievable . He has written about his experiment with submissions in the journal in his article ‘ The Literary Life”. He had a pile of rejection slips from its editor Daniel Manekar. In this process of sending submission and rejection letter through post office both they have become pen pals as Wallace has said . Newyorker editor wrote to him saying that his submission “was very good…..as far as it goes” and he ends the rejection letter by saying something truly lovely in an emotionally moving manner “ I know we have been seeing your work for sometime now….we would be glad to see more ”. Editor Daniel Manekar himself was a writer who has published a dozen of books,novels and short stories . He also won O Henry short story prize . After twenty five years they decide to meet at a cafĂ© in wintry December . Daniel shared waffle with him , talked about ants , dogs and wives . But initially editor Daniel Manekar refrained from any explanation about twenty five years of rejection slips . Later editor manekar to the surprise of Wallace told him that he wrote notes of all the stories he had sent and further added that editor Manekar himself was rejected by Newyorker even when he was working there . Daniel Wallace’s senior was John Maxwell and Maxwell’s attributes percolated down to him. During that time they were publishing Updike , Sallinger Cheever. Daniel Wallace summed up his essay by saying that editor was not working for the magazine , but he was working for the writers. But Daniel Wallace is by now a published author of repute .
Last year Newyorker
featured an article on Indian author of Tamil Literature Perumal Murugan.Translated
version of his novel”Poonachi” was scheduled to be published in USA during the
month of December ,2019. A very
simple and humble gentleman
Perulam began writing since his college days in Tamil language . “Poonachi’ is
based on the life of a goat . Why Perumal took to writing about goat that is
also an interesting story . Whenever people talk about goat stories , Gattu of Malamal Weekly came into my
mind . Fured in white , little tiny Gattu
taken away by the buyer in pick up van and bleating of gattu ,incessant pleadings of
wife of Paresh Rawal in Priyadarshan directed movie Malamal weekly
remains etched in my mind forever . Perumal was in news for the controversy
for his theme in his novel Madhorubaggan. This novel depicts the lives of childless
couple Kali and Poona who were not able
to conceive child . In the festival of Madhorubaggan
wife Poona agrees to join . Madhorubaggan
is a festival where on the twelfth
night of festival childless women can
have sex with young stranger and become pregnant . Madhorubaggan
is a real depiction of a ritual which antagonized and infuriated the
public . He tendered an apology and
withdraw his book from the stand . Perumal stopped writing . When a political
party came to power its goons did not budge to burn down his books and attack the writer .Later Madras high
court came to his rescue and in its judgment judge remarked “Let the author be
resurrected to write what he is best at “.
Perumal said that writing about human and god is dangerous and therefore he has decided to write more about animals . Whither is our literature
today with such blatant violations of rights and assault on writers and artistic
freedom . Don’t we have reason to lament
and say “what man has made of man”?
