Can books cross borders ? Tim Parks mulls over once again, this time in the Financial Times, trying to frame the question around the current 'debate on the British school literature syllabus'.
A good point that some perhaps need reminding of:
And while I don't always agree with Parks' opinion about specific works, I appreciate his calling out Andrés Neuman's Traveller of the Century (along with Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries, which I haven't yet read):
A good point that some perhaps need reminding of:
Whether we're reading The Satanic Verses (1988) or The God of Small Things (1997), our exposure to the subcontinent is softened and mediated by endless references to western, usually English culture. When translating Rushdie into French, German or Italian, for example, the problem is not with Indian references, all usefully explained, but the many allusions to English literature. In Roy's book English connections to India are everywhere stressed; characters watch The Sound of Music, listen to "Ruby Tuesday", read The Jungle Book, are likened to Hansel and Gretel, quote Sir Walter Scott, play Handel's The Water Music and keep bottles of French perfume in the safe. Readers need never fear they are too far from home.(As I often note, however, it's not merely a question of mediation, but also more generally of access: these are books you're unlikely to find in US bookstores, and even I, who actively try to seek them out, have the damnedest time getting my hands on them.)
Meanwhile, huge numbers of novels appear in native Indian languages but are rarely translated for readers in the west. When they are, they are challenging. UR Ananthamurthy's wonderful novels Samskara and Bhava introduce us to a truly foreign tradition with a completely different range of reference as they delve into changing religious customs. But unmediated for a western public, they have not become part of the international conversation. Globalisation is not a level playing field.
And while I don't always agree with Parks' opinion about specific works, I appreciate his calling out Andrés Neuman's Traveller of the Century (along with Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries, which I haven't yet read):
Here all is pastiche and cleverness, the supposedly historical setting merely a passport to fantasy that will travel. These are the kind of books international literary prizes were invented for.I can certainly also get on board with Parks' call:
Above all, students should be invited to wonder why they are being asked to read this or that book, if only to encourage them to think carefully when they choose books for themselves, so as not to fall victim to the intensifying hype that has turned out to be the most easily internationalised of all literary phenomena.