Page 34 - The Hindu 3 Mrch 2019 Ad Free

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DELHI THE HINDU Magazine
The scent of god A book on Telugu cinema Sunday, March 3, 2019 25
is an aphrodisiac, in which sees the ideal viewer
Saikat Majumdar’s latest as a fan, a citizen, and a
novel of that name p28 devotee overlapped p31

command over language, a grasp of John Tyndall’s 1870 talk on “On the READING, HEALING
what’s important in a situation, and so Scientific Use of the Imagination” to CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
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on. But imagination is not one of these the British Association for the
talents. Sure, it can’t hurt to have a Advancement of Science triggered
good imagination, but it is not severe criticism in the English press. Grief is the thing
necessary. It can even be a liability. In
fact, what we call modern literature Leaping ahead
originated in the efforts of the Realists Bose too was criticised in the second­
to move away from the fantastic, and half of his career for his “emotional with feathers
in a more extreme form, that of the style” and speculative claims about
Naturalist school to ruthlessly plant life. The respected biologist Dr.
suppress the role of imagination in Gerta von Ubisch, Bose’s
fiction. contemporary, evaluating his work on When things fall apart, books hold you up
Writers like Gustav Flaubert and plant response in Der Biologe,
Émile Zola in France, Gerhart emphasised that: “It must be our duty JAYANTHI MADHUKAR GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK
Hauptmann in Germany, Giovanni to stop the mixing of exact science
Verga in Italy, and Leonid Andreyev in research with the nice, wonderful arely 20 days after I lost my
Russia took the writings of the fantasies. We want to have fairy tale husband, my boys and I are in
physiologist Claude Bernard — known books and science books; but we don’t front of the departure gate at
for his passionate support of want that the popular literature BBengaluru’s Kempegowda
vivisection — as their model for how becomes a hybrid between the two…” International Airport. There are so
literature should describe the world. This is not to say there’s an ongoing many things I want to tell them before
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They called for writers to report, not civil war in science and literature. Dr. they go on with their lives: Will they be
invent. They called for writers to Ubisch wasn’t incorrect to call for fine? How will they bear the loss? And
“slice” life into a moment, a day, an caution. But Bose’s imaginative leap the question that pains me the most:
expression, a few ordinary lives, and wasn’t off the mark. Today, thanks to How on earth will I be able to come to
with a minimum of rhetorical flourish the work of biologists like Suzanne terms with this new normal marked by
reveal the intricate anatomy of human Simard, we know plants and trees have the absence of my companion?
experience. Later writers loosened communication networks and Instead, what I say is: “What books are
some of naturalism’s constraints but powerful means for shaping their c you carrying on the flight?” The his parents driven apart, mainly
the fundamental distrust of the environments. Taking a cue from Speculative ensuing conversation is distracting and because of a cantankerous
imagination was maintained. Even Bose’s own motivating philosophy of fiction is a I soon Google The Stormlight Archive grandmother.
now, it isn’t uncommon for literary life and work, the aim here is to unite, and other fantasy series. Although it is not death which
magazines to list the kind of stories not divide. Without the imagination, family of While I am experiencing the seven shatters Tolya, his parents’ separation
their editors don’t wish to imagine. both science and fiction — indeed, any genres with a stages of grief simultaneously, a part of is a painful rite of passage. Flipping
field of endeavour — is incomplete. The rather me is disembodied and watching through this dogeared book, I feel a
#70929
All in the family literature of the imagination generous curiously. In some of the most difficult sense of empathy for all those who
Speculative fiction, or ‘literature of the complements the literature of the admissions moments, books help me make sense have suffered a loss, be it transient or
imagination,’ takes a very different mirror. policy. of what I am undergoing. permanent.
view. It is a family of genres with a Imagine this: A Bengali gent of a For a barely concentrating mind, I cry for my boys as I read, “But no,
rather generous admissions policy. scientific mindset, almost middle­aged, Anything with Haiku: Classic Japanese Short Poems he had not lost his way, he knew how
Anything with dragons is a lifetime tired and periodically wracked by dragons is a (Chartwell Books) seems a good bet. A to get back, but he could not, not for
member of this group. Ditto for malarial fever. He’s about to set off on lifetime delicious looking grey tome, its spine anything in the world, and so he
vampires, ghosts and zombies. The an intellectual journey. There are no member of is secured with a thin, shiny red rope, stumbled onward with one thought
Fairytale and Fable are respected reliable maps, and it is likely there will this group using a traditional Chinese
elders, Science fiction is the crazy be storms along the way. He can’t be bookbinding technique. A
uncle, and Fantasy is the unmarried sure where he’ll end up. But wait. He is This technique was developed Although it is not death which
sister with a passion for unicorns. not travelling alone. He has a during the days of the Ming dynasty shatters Tolya, his parents’
There’s an eternal child, Nonsense companion: Imagination. So we don’t (1368­1644) and remained in use till the
verse, who still hasn’t learned to need to imagine how this story ends. early 1900s. Single sheets of paper are separation is a painful rite of
speak, thank god. The family also We know this man and we know he printed on one side only, and each passage. Flipping through this
I
includes stylish characters like found safe harbour in Serendip. side is folded in half, with the printed book, feel a sense of empathy
Nouveau Roman, Magic Realism, ............................................................................. pages on the outside. The book block for all who have suffered a loss
Fabulist fiction, Irrealist fiction, and The writer’s novel, Half of What I Say, is then sandwiched between two
Sir Theatre of the Absurd, who for was shortlisted for the 2016 Hindu boards and bound together through uppermost in his mind: Daddy was
some reason, refuses to answer to Prize. the punched holes. waiting for him someplace. But
“Absurdist Theatre”. Spec­fic isn’t where?”
against realism; it is anti­naturalist. Come back When the mind is racked by waves
Literature is not forced to be a mirror But more than the elegance on the of pain, comics come to the rescue.
of the world. outside, it is the inside that offers Goscinny and Uderzo gave the world
J.C. Bose’s Niruddesher Kahini is succour. I open the pages randomly the much­loved comic characters
usually presented as one of the and connect with the haikus with an Asterix and Obelix. I follow the duo in
earliest examples of science fiction intensity not felt in happy times. Asterix and the Great Crossing. That
from the subcontinent. This is an Try these: René Goscinny was Jewish and
accurate reading. It anticipated the Come back alive followed World War II from a distance
Butterfly Effect (here the “butterfly” is Even if you must talk (he and his family had moved to
a bottle of hair oil) 56 years before Ray Of life’s transience ( Masaoka Shiki) France from Argentina before the war)
Bradbury’s A Sound Of Thunder. It And then, and that the amazing illustrator
mixed science with speculation. Even Those who see lightning Uderzo came from a family of Italian
so, Bose most likely wouldn’t have Without thinking of transience immigrants add another dimension to
seen his story as science fiction; the How admirable! (Matsuo Basho) my reading.
concept itself barely existed in the Or, In between smiles and tears, I read
1890s. But he would have seen it as an Settled on Baruch Spinoza’s words: “I have
imaginative work. Bose wasn’t afraid The temple bell­ striven not to laugh at human actions,
to imagine. A sleeping butterfly (Yosa Buson) not to weep at them, nor to hate them,
For a scientist in the late 1800s, On a sleepless night, I browse but to understand them.” I have yet to
this was a risky attitude. The model of through the bookshelf. Albert get past the first three phases but
the ideal scientist wasn’t the genius Likhanov’s The Maze, bought in a book books like these may help.
running around naked shrieking exhibition at school, is mood­ ..............................................................................
Eureka!, but rather, the dapper appropriate. Translated from Russian The freelance writer believes
accountant with a passion for facts by Fainna Glagoleva, it tells the story that everything has a story waiting
and an aversion for fancy. This is why of a Russian boy, Tolya, who watches to be told.