Smita Mishra
2007 was an amazing year in literature. It showcased a fantastic blend of the actual and the apocryphal, the pragmatic and phantasmal, the heartfelt and hallucinatory. The book that cast an overwhelming spell on the readers’ mind, which kept millions waiting for months, which created a tumultuous wave of excitement and frenzy at its arrival, was of course the seventh and final Harry Potter novel. But the supernatural world of Potter did not eclipse the reader’s insatiable thirst for the veritable saga of life. Books treating life as reality, as a potpourri of bitter-sweet moments, were as much in demand as J K Rowling’s book of witches and gnomes.
Would Harry Potter die? It may very well go as the question of the year! Perplexed, disturbed, and wondering- the readers young and old waited nervously for the author to reveal the truth. The writer in turn remained mum about the secret of Deathly Hallows. As the literary-pundits had anticipated, the queen of narrative did not kill Harry in Deathly Hallows, saving herself her golden key to wealth and fame which could be used at a later date in future to replenish the spent riches!
A group of critics sceptical of JK Rowling’s meteoric rise as an author slammed her latest book as disappointing. They rated it as a piece of work holding together with difficulty the spent energies of a tiring writer, calling it prosaic and absolutely devoid of charm and humour so very typical of her earlier works. But prejudices apart, Rowling managed to keep the reader glued to her fantasy world. Her last book, the only one to include an epigraph and also two quotes relating to death and friendship, stood high on the expectations of the readers and managed to score points of even an older reader, as with the new avatar of Harry Potter the writer too transformed and so did her style to suit the taste of a matured fan group.
Potter`s spell: In pics »
Another book belonging to the genre of the otherworldly was JRR Tolkien’s “The Children of Hurin”. The book originally written in around 1910 but it remained in manuscripts and was never completed by its author. This year, when it was published as an independent work by the author’s son, Christopher Tolkien, it created a furore in the literary world. The book managed to remain in the list of bestsellers till the end of the 2007. The work, often compared to Greek tragedy, is a beautiful, moving tale placed some six thousand years before the events recounted in the ‘Lord of the Rings’. Although grim, morbid and a serene body of work, Tolkein, the author credited with books such as “The Lord of the Rings” and ‘The Hobbit’, weaves a world of magical charm, captivating the reader in its tortuous tale of pain, agony, fantasia and dream.
The fascination for such supermundane tales was really perplexing. Is it a craze sweeping a generation which has achieved everything achievable and which now, in its rapacious hunger for more wants to explore a new world, beyond the existing one and hence the phenomenal interest in aliens, the gnomes, fairies and witches?
The answer cannot be in absolute affirmative, as it would not explain the popularity of close to reality works like Chimamanda Adichie’s “Half of a Yellow Sun,”
Khalid Hosseini’s “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, Dilip Hero’s “Blood of the Earth”, “The Perfect Man” by Naeem Murr, Ayesha Siddiqa’s “Military Inc, Inside Pakistan’s Military economy”, and Mohsin Hamid’s “The Reluctant Fundamentalist.”
“Half of a Yellow Sun”, the book that won its author the highest literary award for women novelists, the Orange Prize, centres on the Nigerian Biafran War. The book does not dwell upon the pain and agony of war in the typical way as the post world war authors did- and some of their modern inheritors are doing till date. Nor does it speak about the innocent (read stereotype) love being pierced by war bullets, or happy (read: picture perfect) families being torn apart by death, imprisonment and deportation. Instead, Adichie deals with war as a “political issue creating social disparities.” She laments about unequal classes created in society due to political turbulence, which become the determining factor in people’s lives. Adichie shows that war is distressful only for the poor and is an event immaterial for the rich. She raises voice against colonialism, steps forward to defend Africa and stands in support of a potential unity of her land but “only under right conditions.”
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The amazing thing about the book is the tone of the author which does not once seems to rise against the Biafran crisis but calls it a need that rose because of political events.”
If “Half of a Yellow Sun” flaunts the flag of an independent Biafra- a sun midway through rising, Khalid Hosseini’s “A Thousand Splendid Suns” celebrates the shining Phoebus of love, sensitivity, and affection amidst the moving gyre of turmoil in Afghanistan.
Any one going through Hosseini’s work is charmed by the author’s neatness of narrative. In a simple and lucid tone Hosseini describes the life and struggles of two women in midst of the worsening political conditions of Afghanistan. Although in Mariam we get hints of “The Good Earth’s” (Pearl S Buck) “Olan” and the novel itself reminds us of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” but the writer manages to keep his ingenuity intact by weaving a tale which is fresh, although in style it seems familiar- particularly to those who have a taste for political and historical (contemporary) stuff.
Hosseini vividly shows what life is for women in a society, which treats them only as engines of reproduction. He shows their pain and suffering but imparts them character, which is almost heroic. They are like little volcanoes with immense pent up energies.
Hosseini seems to deliver a captivating history lesson, adding a story side by side to maintain the human angle. Through his novel Hosseini does not intend to change the western perception of Afghanistan, but makes it more clear and defined by making Afghans come alive as individuals with a loving golden heart. The best thing about the novel is the spirit of pertinacious optimism shining brightly at both political and personal levels.
“The Perfect Man” by Naeem Murr which won the 2007 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize tells the touching tale of an abandoned Anglo Indian child. Rajiv Travers the child of an Indian mother and English father shuttles between relatives in London and finally goes to live with his uncle’s mistress. The book raises many questions on cross culturalism, shifting sensibilities and human emotions.
Two writers from Pakistan, a lady and a gentleman stole away much of the halogen glow of the literary arena this year. “Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy” written by Ayesha Siddiqa is a revealing narration of Pakistan’s highest profit making company the Pakistan Army.
Siddiqa shows how the powerful military has transformed the Pakistani society where the armed forces have assumed the status of an independent class entrenched in the corporate sector, concentrating all powers and money of Pakistan within their hands. Military Inc dwells upon the dynamics of this gradual power building and its impact on Pakistan’s political and economic development. Although Military Inc was removed from shelves as soon as it hit them, the book was successful in achieving its goal- of exposing the fat, wealthy Pakistan Military.
Mohsin Hamid in “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” on the other hand shows the changing perception of the western world towards the Pakistanis in the aftermath of Sept 11-terror attack. With great tact and masterful control Hamid analyses and introspects the growing distrust between the east and the west. But the book does not simply succeed in capturing a developing bitterness; it also shows how forces powerful and strong, passionate and political help in formation of a ‘reluctant fundamentalist’. The protagonist Changez finds his position in New York suddenly changing after 9/11. Not only his future prospects begin to diminish but also do his relationship with his girlfriend. And his own identity begins to metamorphose …Filmmaker Mira Nair has won rights of turning the novel into a film.
A brutally straightforward book, Dilip Hero’s “Blood of Earth” is a well-researched and absolutely credible review of the hidden secrets behind the reasons that led to US war in Iraq. Hero honestly says, “We were lied to by the US, we were kept in dark”. From the enormous number of unreported deaths to the antagonism of the Iraqis against the embezzlement of huge amount of public money, Hero has bared it all. It takes courage to write such stark, unclothed reality.
A close study of all these works reveals a common connecting line. In almost all of them man is treated as part of an “ongoing situation.” And the situation often is a contemporary issue affecting a community, country, or even an entire generation. If Adichie deals with war in Nigeria, Hero laments about the situation in Iraq. If Naeem Murr dwells at length on cross culturalism, Hosseini’s main concern is Afghanistan and its people. These works paint man not a mere pawn of destiny and his life no longer a punishment of his own deeds. Rather he is seen as a victim of a situation in which he has very little role to play.
A bemusing deviation from the earlier trends, 2007 saw the emergence of money, military, war, and politics as the new “destiny”, new “God”, reigning the existence of man. And a little magic to make life better!
