tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post116844891020943807..comments2024-03-18T19:46:10.130+05:30Comments on Jabberwock: The end of pretension in publishing?Jabberwockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-61589631951874233322009-03-29T21:04:00.000+05:302009-03-29T21:04:00.000+05:30Well the end of pretension isn't yet in sight. The...Well the end of pretension isn't yet in sight. There is a lot of mutual back scratching that takes place amongst authors and critics. David D's 'House of Blue Mangoes' comes to mind. I spent good money on that unreadable tome. When I realized the Author was being lavished because he was some Big Fish in Penguin Publishers it was too late. My money was gone and the reviewers I read had let me down.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-57508553893342899542008-03-24T16:13:00.000+05:302008-03-24T16:13:00.000+05:30Avdi: very doubtful. You need to be a much higher-...Avdi: very doubtful. You need to be a much higher-profile novel to win a prize that prestigious. Also, the bad sex award usually goes to a book that has at least some redemptive value (so that the bad sex writing really stands out, so to speak, from the rest of the book!).Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-51531597054124563112008-03-24T15:50:00.000+05:302008-03-24T15:50:00.000+05:30Maybe That Thing called Love will win the bad sex ...Maybe That Thing called Love will win the bad sex in fiction award quite like Bunker 13Avahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17274222598587327676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-81202354010858394112008-01-30T15:09:00.000+05:302008-01-30T15:09:00.000+05:30Hi. Discovered your blog today. Read some half a d...Hi. Discovered your blog today. Read some half a dozen pieces . Plan to wade thru' all your stuff. I'm a huge book buff, been reading since age 8--and that was long back!I'm an Eng Lit post grad who has taught school for a few years.<BR/><BR/>My young adult daughter got a couple of these lite-lit Indian publications as b'day presents. I also picked up two more from my Local lender.My conclusion is --they tell stories in lite-movie style, and that's about it.The language does not move you, there is no evocative turn of phrase, nothing I would not down as a an interesting quote.<BR/><BR/>'Anything for you Ma'am'& That Thing Called Love-- these books are particularly shoddy as regards language and style.<BR/><BR/>I'm not looking down on these books. Simply an observation that their writers have tales to tell and they are doing so.Good for the publishing business which has so far made money only through'computer' books and guides.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1963984736211095842007-04-16T14:14:00.000+05:302007-04-16T14:14:00.000+05:30Hi,your blog was a revelation.I'm writing a book t...Hi,your blog was a revelation.I'm writing a book too. And, your views have given me a new perspective. ThanksAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1169724573936082652007-01-25T16:59:00.000+05:302007-01-25T16:59:00.000+05:30Timezone was lightweight crap of the NRI comedy mo...<I>Timezone</I> was lightweight crap of the NRI comedy movie genre. Strictly C-grade sitcom. Avoid, avoid, avoid.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168994485961055882007-01-17T06:11:00.000+05:302007-01-17T06:11:00.000+05:30As an ex IITian I can safely state that many ex II...As an ex IITian I can safely state that many ex IITians do not intend to read Chetan Bhagat. <BR/><BR/>I don't think I have a problem with clichéd Ladka Lit or its success, its a genre, some people (inexplicably!) like it and read it, period. If its the future of Indian English literature, that too is not different from trends elsewhere where badly written lite lit abounds. It only suggests that there is a big enough English educated middle class that requires simplistic reflections of its life/reality. Further, I don't think it has pretensions to be anything else unlike our more literary stars. And here I do think there is a quality problem with at least some of IW in E - and lets face it, a number of Indian writers did get published because India is "in" the way Latin American or eastern European literature was awhile ago. Example: Seth himself can be tres facile in his writing, opinion is divided on Kiran Desai and Amitav Ghosh writes badly written books like The Glass Palace and so on. I can't see the next Nobel (inaccurate barometer though it may be of literary worth) going to an Indian author.....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168963437785055622007-01-16T21:33:00.000+05:302007-01-16T21:33:00.000+05:30Anon: I spoke on the show twice, and the first tim...Anon: I spoke on the show twice, and the first time was slightly edited (nothing major though). I should have avoided going, not because it was just 23 seconds but because I'm uncomfortable with TV cameras and find it difficult to capsule my thoughts about a large and complex subject in a single glib sound-byte.<BR/><BR/>It definitely wasn’t done "for fame", btw. I’ve been called around 7-8 times for such shows (or for a one-on-one interview), mostly to do with blogging or literary stories – but this was only the second time I said yes.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168960497737934792007-01-16T20:44:00.000+05:302007-01-16T20:44:00.000+05:30Psst...saw you in We the People. Unless I missed a...Psst...saw you in We the People. Unless I missed a scene (I went to pee a couple of times), you spoke just once, for about 23 seconds.<BR/>Okay, I didn't count, but, hey, you get the point, right?<BR/>Anyway, here's the real point: Why? Why come in a show when you know, all you'll get is 23 seconds, or such, of fame? Specially considering your blog is so goddamn interesting.<BR/><BR/>A fanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168858655522325952007-01-15T16:27:00.000+05:302007-01-15T16:27:00.000+05:30*grin* Good to finally read this after talking so ...*grin* Good to finally read this after talking so much about it. :)<BR/><BR/>-Aishwarya, who cannot be bothered to sign in.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168824743764195572007-01-15T07:02:00.000+05:302007-01-15T07:02:00.000+05:30If there's space in the market for it (and I'm sur...If there's space in the market for it (and I'm sure there is), why not? A bit of choice never harmed anyone.the cowlickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05028131081089683317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168705683212760902007-01-13T21:58:00.000+05:302007-01-13T21:58:00.000+05:30Anirudh: as you might know from my previous writin...Anirudh: as you might know from my previous writings, I'm not all that good at "taking a stand" - much prefer to be the fence-sitter. (And here I was thinking that was my special appeal, in a world where everyone else is busy taking stands! Tch...)<BR/><BR/>If I were to write a full review of any of these books (which I wouldn't do: none of them interested/stimulated me enough), you'd see some "highly critical" writing there. But for the purposes of this story, it was more important to examine a certain trend with tolerance, and to try and understand it, rather than to take the easy way out by being contemptuous and dismissive.<BR/><BR/>Falstaff: thanks for the loonngg comment is all I can work up the energy to say at this point. <BR/><BR/><I>I would merely indicate that this could be extended to say that any assessment is necessarily subjective, which, however, is not necessarily a bad thing.</I><BR/><BR/>KK: not necessarily a bad thing? I'd say it's a very good thing (life's rich pageant and all that) though it does tend to make life very complicated. So much opinion pornography.<BR/><BR/>Btw, I'm glad that someone else bothered to mention that any assessment is necessarily subjective, since usually I'm the only one croaking that line...Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168699335764764732007-01-13T20:12:00.000+05:302007-01-13T20:12:00.000+05:30Anirudh: I actually enjoyed ASB (though I skipped ...Anirudh: I actually enjoyed ASB (though I skipped several pages/chapters). Its not that badly written relative to FPS or something (Vikram Seth doesn't write fantastically badly). But I found the writing inauthentic - like a Vasant Vihar Stephenian trying to write about people in a Punjabi Bagh household. Not his finest work. <BR/><BR/>n!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168696982392193502007-01-13T19:33:00.000+05:302007-01-13T19:33:00.000+05:30KK: You're welcome. Hope you enjoy it.On Roth: I h...KK: You're welcome. Hope you enjoy it.<BR/><BR/>On Roth: I have to say I disagree with the article you link to - saying that "Roth doesn't even attempt the beautiful turns, the sparkling observations, the sharp-edged parentheticals that characterize a typical John Updike sentence" is nonsense - you have only to read a chapter or two of, say, American Pastoral to see the intensity of verbal inventiveness that Roth brings to his writing - sure, he spends a lot of time ranting, but his rants are scathing and hilarious and the plots underlying them simply delicious with irony. <BR/><BR/>It's certainly true that Roth's universe is a limited one. But why does it need to be anything but? Are we now going to diss Faulkner because all of his novels are about the South, most of them set in one fictional county? The article you point to says: "I just can't abide by the current meme that calls him a relevant spokesperson for our current time". I agree with that, and am certainly not claiming that reading Roth will offer you grand insights into American Judaism. But it's unfair to criticise a writer by attaching a label to him and then blaming him for not living up to it. <BR/>Roth may not be America's most profound cultural critic, but in my opinion he's one of the most lively and delightful writers around. <BR/><BR/>Oh, and certainly there are a bunch of Roth books, especially from his middle period that are less than memorable. The Great American Novel, for instance, or My Life as a Man, or some of the Zuckerman books. And yes, the Breast is a one joke book. But what about Sabbath's Theatre? What about the Counterlife? What about Patrimony? What about Operation Shylock? What about American Pastoral? it's hard for me to believe that you think these are the works of a writer who's exhausted all he had to give.Falstaffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09791162324919462038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168694259336930072007-01-13T18:47:00.000+05:302007-01-13T18:47:00.000+05:30Found this interesting ...http://www.litkicks.com/...Found this interesting ...<BR/><BR/>http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/msg.jsp?what=OverratedRothAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168692352569995442007-01-13T18:15:00.000+05:302007-01-13T18:15:00.000+05:30Falstaff :Thanks for the reference to Pynchon. Jus...Falstaff :<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the reference to Pynchon. Just managed to order a copy of Gravity's Rainbow.<BR/>:)<BR/><BR/>I do not disagree with what you say. However, there are a couple of points that I would like to make, if I may :-<BR/><BR/><I>... is clearly interested in how he says things, not just in what he says</I><BR/><BR/>I would argue that there is a sub-set of the 'serious reader' who might contend otherwise - whether a particular writer, inconsequential of 'literary' skills ( assumedly the 'how' ), has anything to say, after all.<BR/>{ I personally felt that Roth had exhausted all that he wished to / could explore with the publication of <I>Goodbye Columbus, Portnoy's Complaint & Deception</I>. The rest, including <I>The Professor of Desire</I> could be likened to typically 'popular' ( and hence, by implication, non-literary ) re-working of the same old themes of personal angst and identity. }<BR/><BR/><I>...any assessment of a work of art is necessarily subjective ...</I><BR/><BR/>I would merely indicate that this could be extended to say that <I>any assessment is necessarily subjective</I>, which, however, is not necessarily a bad thing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168679375724713562007-01-13T14:39:00.000+05:302007-01-13T14:39:00.000+05:30'Five point someone' was bad, and I don't mean the...'Five point someone' was bad, and I don't mean the depth or language when I say that,what I mean it was a highly exaggerated and ridiculous account of a college life. I devour books, so I taste all kinds, but I could not go past two chapters. Of course, my opinion does not matter too much because I am jsut another reader.<BR/>What I understood from my experience is that I don't think, these type of so-called non-pretentious books are not really going to wipe out the pretentious ones in a hurry. The readers who always read, will just add some more to their menu, the once who never did might get lured by the price tag and the 'movie-type' picturisations to become readers. <BR/>Hopefully. :)Aparnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17465535925292456208noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168674457241760672007-01-13T13:17:00.000+05:302007-01-13T13:17:00.000+05:30Uh zimmerman, I think that's an unfair dig at Fals...Uh zimmerman, I think that's an unfair dig at Falstaff. After all, he did say that he read one chapter of FPS. Which is more than one can manage of Anything For You Ma'am. Does one have to read the entire book before deciding that something is badly written? Doesn't the lack of will to make an effort towards finishing the book itself suggest that the book wasn't up to the mark? After all, most serious readers do struggle through a book unless it is almost completely unreadable.RTPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00509490132576364316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168668855848473912007-01-13T11:44:00.000+05:302007-01-13T11:44:00.000+05:30n!: 'A Suitable Boy' was badly written? Really? (N...n!: 'A Suitable Boy' was badly written? Really? (Not liking a book and thinking it is badly written are two different things.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168668050679455082007-01-13T11:30:00.000+05:302007-01-13T11:30:00.000+05:30Wish you'd taken a stand - you're vague about wher...Wish you'd taken a stand - you're vague about where you stand though the piece isn't bad. (To be honest, I wish you'd been more critical. I <I>hate</I> such books.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168626860688619942007-01-13T00:04:00.000+05:302007-01-13T00:04:00.000+05:30Here are some positives I can think of that this t...Here are some positives I can think of that this trend in publishing might foster:<BR/><BR/>More people, particularly the young, might look to writing as a financially viable profession. While it would bring in a certain number who are in it mostly for the money, some genuine talent might take the plunge too. I am of the opinion that many are conditioned to suppress or ignore or sideline their writing talents because it has "no future".<BR/><BR/>At least a few of the young writers who got published will hopefully go on to aiming higher and producing more accomplished works. <BR/><BR/>That is a lot of might and if and hopefully. But yeah, hopefully.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168623612483882702007-01-12T23:10:00.000+05:302007-01-12T23:10:00.000+05:30Nice post, Jai. Some good discussions, too.Was rat...Nice post, Jai. Some good discussions, too.<BR/><BR/>Was rather hoping someone would mention/use the term dick-lit. Just for kicks. Works better to complement chick-lit. Lad-lit sounds very bland in comparison, but obviously more acceptable in general.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168621822360256412007-01-12T22:40:00.000+05:302007-01-12T22:40:00.000+05:30Yeah it is a little disappointing to see how littl...Yeah it is a little disappointing to see how little of literary fiction from outside India and other foreign languages gets covered in Indian literary media (whatever small that is.)<BR/><BR/>Another disappointing thing is to see so few blogs by literary journalists and reviewers or even students and academics? I am sure they read more books than the book editors ask them to do. Wouldn't it be great to talk about those books which don't get mentioned in the books pages on their own blogs. Isn't that what blogs are for? <BR/><BR/>It is unfashionable now to say this but i do think that the critics should guide people's tastes and help eager, curious and enthusiastic readers to make a more informed choice. <BR/><BR/>btw, just curious is Against the Day going to get reviewed in the indian media anywhere? :)Alokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12947383354732747209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168620916369745752007-01-12T22:25:00.000+05:302007-01-12T22:25:00.000+05:30falstaff - wow, long but good point.one thing thou...falstaff - wow, long but good point.<BR/><BR/>one thing though, u havent read FPS but said Everyman was 'infinitely' better. then you say critics should do a better job. wow.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1168616917376065922007-01-12T21:18:00.000+05:302007-01-12T21:18:00.000+05:30Glad someone else liked A Suitable Boy! And at lea...Glad someone else liked A Suitable Boy! And at least that answers my question somewhat about what is a literary book. Apparenlty we're considering anything that anyone anywhere thinks of as a literary book to be one. If every book I couldn't understand or that went over my head or I didnt connect with is going to be termed a literary book, this whole discussion is pretty pointless!Revealedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16771676208279874047noreply@blogger.com