Umang;655288I have not read this fellow. Okonomi mentioned him so I looked him up. Doesn't seem that impressive, a minor figure compared to Nirad Chaudhuri and V.S. Naipaul. Just another lost soul in India's encounter with the West.
yeah man, i know where you're coming from. he is actually a writer for writers, a bit like joyce. ordinary readers would find him inaccessible (as they would joyce). you can't compare him to chaudhuri or naipaul. the latter were mere mortals compared to desani. the world of art is a cruel world. it's not only subjective, it is also not at all meritocratic (though it carries a grand pretence of being so). luck plays a big role in art. i find many writers we are made to read in the literary canons established by colleges to be downright mediocre. but they were damn lucky in life -- thus they are venerated and figure in the canons. desani was plain unlucky in my opinion. however, he did not consider himself unlucky or failed for he counted elliot, burgess, orwell et al among his admirers and that's all that mattered to him! his arrogance also knew no bounds (god gives the power of realization that they have a gift to those that god gives a gift and with that realization come infinite arrogance). he was so arrogant that he approached kushwant singh (then an attache in UK in the indian consulate) to nominate him for the nobel because his novel was better than ulysses. of course, kushwant singh threw him out but desani had a point!
[quote]I generally dislike fiction so it's likely he would not appeal to me. I would be happy to be proved wrong though. If you have his e-books, please forward them to me. My search on
Library Genesis was fruitless.[/quote]
there is some stuff of his online but i think they will be out of your reach (considering you don't like fiction). nevertheless, i will post one of his short stories here later -- one that is raucously funny and easily accessible to the ordinary reader.
[quote]It's surprising how many of these "Indian writers" have fallen by the wayside. Nobody remembers Dom Moraes or Sasthi Brata anymore.[/quote]
the writers are to blame. i don't like poetry but i know dom moraes led a bohemian life. he hardly wrote after his return from england. alcoholism stole his soul too. it is not that he had not been acknowledged for his genius in england (he was the youngest to win a prestigious prize, for poetry, in UK, in those days -- auden doted him) but what do you do when the poet decides not to write? sasthi brata too got lost in nyc (a bit like raj kiran of bollywood). he was "still" working on his novel, lol, the last i heard of him and which was a few years ago! wonder how long will it take for him to finish it? a lifetime is not enough?
[quote]The most interesting book I have read recently is Ashay Naik's "
Natural Enmity".[/quote]
i'll be honest. i've hardly read much fiction since i left school (26 years ago). so i can yak non stop about oldies like nirad, naipaul, rushdie, brata, seth but know zilch about the new breed. i turned my back on fiction and writing and art in my last semester in college. i do revisit it sometimes (like i am doing now i guess).
[quote]If you like fiction, you can try Kiran Nagarkar's "
Cuckold".[/quote]
i will. i am putting it in queue. topmost in the queue is kiran desai (heard lots of good things about her including the rumour that she is dating orhan pamuk). second is kiran nagarkar.
Originally Posted by okonomi 