Special Section on Teaching Indic Traditions

READING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

here is a publishing boom Using the in fiction by authors from the Indian subcontinent. TIndian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and Bangladeshi authors are being dis- Fiction covered almost daily. The litera- ture from India is several thousand years old. However, following the of the notoriety of Salman Rushdie, the meteoric success of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, and the Oscar-winning Indian screen adaptation of Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient, it is almost impossible to open the New York Times Book Review Subcontinent without reading of another new highly-praised novelist from the region. Most of these authors write in English. Many are expa- in Social triates, living in Canada, England or the United States. These , with the variety of experiences Science Classes described, in settings that are exotic and often unknown to the average high school or college stu- By Andrea Caron Kempf dent, are ideal for a Reading Across the Curriculum assign- ment in the social sciences. In the assignments, each student reads a work of fiction from an approved bibliography and writes a book review that applies the sociologi- cal, political, historical, and/or economic concepts that have been covered in class to the contents of the novel. Often the student is also required to research the cultural, ethnic, or national milieu in which the novel is written.

17 ments. At my own college, the Liberal groups. India alone recognizes fourteen Instructors who have Arts Division mission statement says, official languages. Now, with so many “Johnson County Community College will authors being published, it is possible to used fiction to teach actively promote the understanding and compile an impressive bibliography of appreciation of diversity . . . through the contemporary Indian fiction, which social science classes implementation of curriculum initiatives includes that of her close neighbors. and activities as a natural part of the Virtually every novel on the bibliog- report that their educational process in order to create an raphy addresses a number of significant environment that values all people.” Using issues. Here are three examples. Moth students seem more an international or multicultural reading Smoke by Mohsin Hamid looks at the ram- assignment allows an instructor to incor- pant political and economic corruption in engaged in the porate an international or diversity compo- Pakistan where the rich and powerful get nent into a course without substantially away with virtually all the crimes they content area because altering the teaching syllabus. commit, while talented but poorly con- Third, the assignment of a novel not nected individuals like the protagonist of their fictional only encourages reading, but also encour- Daru and his drug-dealing friend Murad ages use of the library’s resources. It is must pander to the wealthy or turn to explorations. unfortunately naive to assume that college crime for economic success. Women in students will go to the library to check out Moth Smoke, like Daru’s lover Mumtaz, The novels tend good literature for recreational pleasure. In are forced into subterfuge in order to pur- my library, the novels with the highest cir- sue a career. Her work as an investigative to make real the culation statistics are those on Reading journalist is published under a masculine Across the Curriculum bibliographies pseudonym. A sociology student could use theoretical issues and the old-standbys by authors like the novel as the focal point for a discus- Hemingway, Poe, and Fitzgerald, which sion of women’s issues or of crime in a discussed in the are assigned routinely in high school, col- society where most of the wealth is con- lege, and even graduate school. centrated in a small percentage of families. classroom. Fourth, it is difficult, perhaps impos- Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markan- sible, to cut and paste together a paper that daya, tells the story of the arrival of a tan- meets the goals of the Reading Across the nery in a traditional village. It shows how Curriculum assignment. Thus, students are fragile a traditional agrarian society can he Reading Across the Curriculum forced to think about the material and be, and how little it takes to turn a prosper- assignment has been developed to write a paper based on their own ideas. ous small farmer into a beggar. Issues of meet many educational objectives. Given the nature of the writing required, TFirst, because students are reading less, an instructor can recognize plagiarism it is important to encourage them to almost instantly. And since each student Now, with so many read. Any librarian can cite statistics reviews a different book, each paper is to document the problem. In my own somewhat unique. authors being library, periodical usage is down almost 80 While there are no statistical studies percent from pre-Internet days. Book about the success of this type of assign- published, it is circulation has taken a 30 percent dive. In ment, there are anecdotal reports. Instruc- addition, textbooks that prepackage tors who have used fiction to teach social possible to compile excerpts from larger works are the sine science classes report that their students qua non of most courses. The days when seem more engaged in the content area an impressive a student was required to read several because of their fictional explorations. The complete works in the course of a semester novels tend to make real the theoretical bibliography of largely exist in the memories of aging issues discussed in the classroom. baby boomers. It is easy to blame the I know of social science classes in contemporary Internet or television, either of which, with which a bibliography of African or Latin quick hits and sound bites, encourages American novels is used. I have also seen Indian fiction, the short attention span of high school and classes where a bibliography of interna- young undergraduate students. It is also tional novels from a number of countries is which includes possible to craft reading assignments to used. I have not yet encountered a class counter this trend. that uses novels from the Indian subconti- that of her close Second, many educational institutions nent exclusively. Yet the region is larger are including international education and than Europe, encompassing four countries, neighbors. diversity initiatives in their mission state- each with a variety of religious and ethnic

18 EDUCATION ABOUT ASIA Volume 6, Number 3 Winter 2001 class and caste, of the woman’s role in tra- An Annotated Bibliography of ditional society, of the exploitation of Fiction in English from the peasants by factory owners, and of family Indian Subcontinent organization are all present in the novel. Finally, The God of Small Things, Ali, Ahmed. Twilight in (New York: New ostensibly the story of a tragic love affair Directions, 1994). between an upper-class woman and an This novel, which was originally published by the untouchable man, delineates the persistence Hogarth Press in 1940 after Virginia Woolf and E. M. of caste in India. It is a marvelous example Forster fought the printers who viewed the text as sub- of politics gone mad when the Communist versive, chronicles the life of a Moslem family, living demonstrations, just to prove a point, force in Delhi at the beginning of the twentieth century, the closing of the pickle factory that has who see their fortunes fading as the British work to been the community’s economic mainstay. eradicate Islamic culture. (Delhi, Moslem) Again, it shows how little women are valued, even educated women. Just Baldwin, Shauna Singh. What the Body Remembers incidentally, it also is concerned with (New York: N. A. Talese, 1999). child sexual abuse and the resultant The brutal story of the partition of India and Pakistan trauma. These three novels are only is told through the eyes of two unusual Sikh women examples of the richness of the fiction for who are the co-wives of an engineer. He is also a use in research papers focusing on issues prominent landowner in the Moslem part of the Pun- discussed in the classroom. jab. (Kashmir, Sikh) Below is a selective, annotated bibli- ography of Indian, Pakistani, and Sri Desai, Anita. Baumgartner’s Bombay (London: Pen- Lankan fiction. Following each citation, if guin, 1988). it can be determined, I have noted the A German-Jewish refugee from the Holocaust ends up region or city and sometimes the religious in India where he is no more accepted as a European group about which the author is writing. in India than he was as a Jew in Germany. (Calcutta, I have only included books that I have per- Mumbai) sonally read, or at least examined. I have made no attempt to be comprehensive. I Desai, Anita. The Clear Light of Day (London: Pen- have included works by expatriate authors guin, 1990). that examine the lives of immigrants, e.g., Members of an old Delhi family come to terms with Jhumpa Lahiri and V. S. Naipaul, because their past and reconcile the differences that parted of my belief that immigrants bring their them during the summer of Indian independence in cultures with them. The lives of Gujuratis 1947. (Delhi) in Trinidad or Bengalis in New England relate more to their experiences as Ben- Desai, Anita. In Custody (New York: New Harper & galis or Gujuratis than to life in their new Row, 1984). homes. Many of the authors, like R. K. After a poor and unsuccessful college lecturer is Narayan, Salman Rushdie, V. S. Naipaul manipulated into interviewing an old man known as and Anita Desai, are prolific writers, only the greatest living poet, he learns that he has a few of whose works I have cited. In the taken on much more than he bargained for. (Delhi) case of , I have read and enjoyed but did not cite The Golden Gate, Desai, Kiran. Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (New or because neither book York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1998). introduces a student to the subcontinent or A misunderstood young man escapes his family and to the experiences of its immigrants community by climbing a tree in a guava orchard and abroad. The same rationale applies to the refusing to come down. This action causes the vil- omission of Ondaatje’s English Patient, lagers to venerate him like a saint. despite its one Sikh character. I have not yet read some authors, for example, Deshpande, Shashi. The Dark Holds No Terrors Romesh Guneskera, Raj Kamal Jha, Amit (India: Penguin, 1990). Chaudhuri, Bapsi Sidhwa, and Kushwant A successful woman doctor flees her abusive hus- Singh, and have perhaps inadvertently band. In the solitude of her father’s home, she is omitted other authors’ finest works. Like forced to face the various problems in her life with all bibliographies, it is a work in progress which she had never dealt. (Karnakata) and will continue to grow.

19 Deshpande, Sashi. A Matter of Time (New Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Interpreter of Mal- York: Feminist Press, 1999). adies (New York: Houghton Mifflin, A woman and her daughters must cope 2000). with their unexpected abandonment by her This collection of short stories, which won husband, an act that mirrors her father’s the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, describes the behavior many years earlier. (Karnakata) cultural dislocation of Indian immigrants to the United States, no longer at home in Deshpande, Shashi. That Long Silence India, but not quite a part of their new (India: Penguin, 1989). home. (Bengal) After her husband, a government official, is faced with possible disgrace and dis- Markandaya, Kamala. Nectar in a Sieve missal, the unhappy author of an advice (New York: John Day, 1955). column reassesses her career, her mar- The lives of a tenant farmer and his family riage, and her life. (Mumbai) are irrevocably altered by the arrival of a tannery in their village. Divakaruni, Chitra Bannerjee. An Arranged Marriage (New York: Anchor Mehta, Gita. A River Sutra (New York: N. Books, 1995). A. Talese, 1993). These short stories examine the difference A bureaucrat flees from life by taking a between the lives of women in India and position as the manager of a guesthouse on the United States. the banks of the Narmada River. There he discovers the meaning of life through the Divakaruni, Chitra Bannerjee. The Mis- tales of the travelers he meets. (Narmada tress of Spices (New York: Anchor Books, River) 1997). A wonder-working Indian woman, who Mishra, Pankaj. The Romantics (New runs a spice shop in Oakland, discovers York: Random House, 2000). that in order to keep her vows, she must A young man, who is preparing for the civil give up love. However, love matters more. service examination, becomes friends with members of the expatriate community, all Ghosh, Amitav. The Calcutta Chromo- of whom are searching for a deeper mean- some (New York: Avon, 1996). ing to life and hope to find it in India. This is a futuristic novel about the transmi- () gration of souls through the bites of certain mosquitoes, bites that may provide eternal Mistry, Rohinton. A Fine Balance life. (Calcutta) (New York: Vintage, 1997). A group of refugees, fleeing religious and Hamid, Moshin. Moth Smoke (New York: ethnic violence, forge an unlikely commu- Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2000). nity in the apartment of an independent This Pakistani version of The Great Gatsby widow. (Mumbai, Parsi) follows the downfall of a former bank employee whose descent into drug abuse Mistry, Rohinton. Such a Long Journey and crime takes place during the explosive (New York: Vintage Books, 1992). summer when India and Pakistan both test The fortunes of a Parsi family in Mumbai their atomic weapons. (Lahore) diminish as Hindu supremacy, economic change and entanglement in a secret ser- Kamani, Ginu. Junglee Girl vice plot during a war with Pakistan effect (San Francisco: Aunt Lute, 1995). their lives. (Mumbai, Parsi) These short stories are about the difficult role of women and about very difficult Mistry, Rohinton. Tales from Firozsha women, most of whom live in the state of Baag (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989). Gujurat. (Gujurat) These interlocking short stories describe the life of the Parsi residents of an apart- ment house in Mumbai. (Mumbai, Parsi)

20 EDUCATION ABOUT ASIA Volume 6, Number 3 Winter 2001 Mukherjee, Bharati. Jasmine (New York: presumed torture victims during the civil Grove Press, 1989). war. (Sri Lanka) A young woman from India makes her way in the United States, despite the fact Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things that she is an illegal immigrant. (New York: Random House, 1997). A twin brother and sister watch their world Naipaul, V. S. A Bend in the River (New fall apart when their mother dares to love York: Knopf, 1979). outside her caste. This novel won the An Indian merchant, living in an unnamed Booker Prize. (Kerala) country in Africa, attempts to survive as his country goes from one revolution to Rushdie, Salman. Midnight’s Children another. (New York: Knopf, 1981). This satiric novel about the creation of the Naipaul, V. S. A House for Mr. Biswas modern Indian state is narrated in magic (New York: Knopf, 1983). realism style. It follows the fortunes of An Indian living in Trinidad seeks to those children who were born at midnight achieve the true happiness of owning a of the day independence was declared. house of his own. Many critics view this This novel won the Booker Prize. novel, originally published in 1961, as Naipaul’s finest work and the outstanding Rushdie, Salman. Shame (New York: fictional account about the life of Indian Knopf, 1983). expatriates in the Caribbean. This is the author’s fanciful retelling of the history of modern Pakistan. Narayan, R. K. The Guide (New York: Viking, 1958). Seth, Vikram. A Suitable Boy (New York: A tourist guide who lives by his wits HarperCollins, 1993). meets his downfall through his adulterous This more than 1,300-page-long novel love of a dancer, yet inadvertently ends up relates the interconnected stories of four venerated as a holy man. The plot of Kiran Indian families during the 1950s. The cen- Desai’s Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard tral theme is the attempt to find a suitable bears an uncanny resemblance to The husband for a young woman with several Guide. (Tamil Nadu) suitors. (Calcutta)

Narayan, R. K. A Horse and Two Goats Tharoor, Shashi. The Great Indian Novel (New York: Viking, 1970). (New York: Little Brown, 1989). This is a collection of stories about village The epic story of the Mahabharata is life in the Tamil-speaking region of south- updated to tell the story of twentieth- ern India. (Tamil Nadu) century Indian history and politics.

Narayan, R. K. The Painter of Signs (New Tharoor, Shashi. Show Business (New York: Viking, 1976). York: Arcade, 1992). An educated young man, who prides him- The novel follows the rise and fall of an self on his logic, falls in love with a mili- ambitious actor/politician in “Bollywood,” tant family planner. (Tamil Nadu) Mumbai’s film industry. The author intends the novel to be a metaphor for Nigam, Sanjay. The Snake Charmer (New what is wrong in Indian society. (Mumbai) York: Morrow, 1998). When his beloved snake bites him, a snake charmer, in a fit of rage, bites back, killing ANDREA CARON KEMPF is a Professor and the snake and achieving his fifteen min- Librarian at Johnson County Community College utes of fame in the Indian media. (Delhi) in Overland Park, Kansas. She earned a B.A. in Literature from Brandeis University, an M.A.T. in Ondaatje, Michael. Anil’s Ghost (New Literature from Johns Hopkins University, and an M.S.L.S. from Simmons College. She is an alum- York: Knopf, 2000). na of the Asian Studies Development Program at A forensic pathologist returns to her home the East-West Center, and a regular reviewer of in Sri Lanka to examine the corpses of fiction for Library Journal.

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