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Towards a Poetics of the Indian Novel in English Shimla,2000,Pp BOOK REVIEW • • by Makarand Paranjape, • Indian Institute of Advanced Study Towards a Poetics of The Indian Novel in English Shimla,2000,pp. 143, Rs.200. • • "Those, who like reading plays and critical intervention lies in the fact that discussed later on in this eassy.I would, novels, should contemplate as to why and long after the publication of Meenakshi however, start with the "Introduction" with what expectations they read them. Mukherjee's two important books and the last chapter, "Towards a Poetics If they are entertained by reading the (which were also an attempt to theorise of the Indian English Novel" which form wonderful incidents rendered therein, I the Indian English novel), namely The the nucleus of his critical enterprise. want to ask them if there is any incident Twice Born Fiction (1971)and Realism and Makarand's aim is 'to propose both a more wonderful than the whole process of creation by God in any kind of Reality: The Novel and Society in India typology and a method of evaluation', literature? .. Sahitya (literature) can't (1985),his is the hitherto most sustained as the blurb has it, in order to provide a exist without dharma (truth), because critical discourse on the poetics (that is, reasonably good idea of what to 'expect Sahitya is rooted in truth. Truth is nature scope and significance) of the when we pick up an lE novel' (Intro.Ll). dharma. If there is a kind of literature Indian English novel. Critics like K.R.S. He self-consciously employs the which originates from and is full of Iyengar, CD. Narasimhaiah and M.K. structuralist method to interrogate and adharma (untruth), it will only please an Naik have written excellent critical explore the idea of the lE novel, which immoral or perverted reader." surveys of the lE novel; but the project yields, in spite of its inherent dangers of -Bankim Chandra (173-74) of writing a well-argued theory of large generalisations and explanations, "... true creation is the realisation of Indian English novel remains ignored 'not just epistemic but aesthetic rewards' truth through the translation of it into our and incomplete. Here, I must mention (lntro.11). True, indeed. Even the most own symbols." -R.N. Tagore (21) the seminal significance of Prof. Kapil orthodox post-structuralists have to use "... (True) art is that which leads a Kapoor's essay, "Theory of The Novel: a discursive 'structure' in order to man one step forward on the path of The Indian View" (80-96) which also dismantle an already existing structure. morality and gives him elevated views. traces the evolution of prose narratives By poetics Makarand implies the If it degrades him ethically, it is not art, in Indian tradition and suggests detailed "different and related perspectives" on but only obsenity." -M.K. Gandhi (225) typologies of the Indian novel. Maka- the lE novel, which might constitute a rand expands the scope of Prof. 'theory of lE novel' (Intro.ll). It is "The' greatness' of literature cannot be determined only by literary standards; Kapoor's discourse by offering a theory neither normative nor prescriptive in though we must remember that whether that takes care of the 'poetics' as well as intent or execution, as the term 'poetics' it is literature or not can be determined the 'politics' of the lE novel. Hence, the seems to connote. His main concern is only by the literary standards." added importance of Makarand's title 'the identity of the lE novel' (Intro.12) - T.S. Eliot (97) that may help a discerning reader to and its interconnec-tions with language, properly evaluate and situate such (old class, caste, political affiliations, and To begin an analysis of Makarand and new) practitioners of the lE fiction formal orientations. The final essay, Paranjape's latest book, Towards a Poetics as Raja Rao, Anand, R.K. Narayan, from which the book under review gets of the Indian English Novel, with the views Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, its title, focuses on the relevance of of four eminent writers/thinkers of the Upamanyu Chatterjee, Anita Oesai, purusharthas in defining our narrative twentieth century on the meaning and Arundhati Roy, Vikram Seth, Amit traditions and using them as aesthetic, value of literature may seem to be a Chaudhary, Allan Sealy,and others who instead of ethical categories. In short, critical non-starter. The spiritual imper- have made itbig in the west, in the broad Makarand wants to tell us how best we ative that underlies Makarands dis- framework of Indian civilization. can use our shared dharmic context in the course is that a poetics of Indian Makarand divides his book in five construction of an indigenous theory of (English) novel should be grounded in tightly written chapters apart from an the lE novel. His discursive framework the 'civilizational or spiritual imaginary' "Introduction". The first four chapters, is precisely neo-Gandhian and he is, (that is the 'sanatan or eternal' dharma) namely "The Ideology of Form: The perhaps, the first critic in Indian of Indian society. This is what connects Novel Across Cultures", "Inside and metropolitan academy to have him to a tradition of modern writers/ Outside the Whale: Politicsand the New advocated the application of a Gandhian thinkers like Bankim, Tagore, Auro- English Novel", "The Caste of Indian perspective to the interpret-ation of lE bindo, Gandhi, T.S. Eliot and Milan English Novel", and "The Anglo-Indian novel. In his "Introduction", he lays bare Kundera, to name only a few, who link as Indo- Anglian: Ideology, Politics and his critical politics: literature with truth (satya) or spiritu- Cross-Cultural Representation" deal ality. Having said that, let me hasten to extensively with the cultural politics of If we were to use a Gandhian add that the significance of Makarand's the Indian English novel which will be perspective for example, we would SUMMERHILL: IIAS REVIEW 0 18 0 Winter 2000 BOOK REVIEW immediately see that for a reductive utterances, that Makarand 1995).The Indian critics, by and large, contemporary text to be dharmic, it seems to be concerned more with the accepted the western parameters of should be aligned to the interests of civilizational politics (or poetics) of the 'novel' as the defining marks of the lE the people of this country; it should, Indian novel, than with the poetics ofthe novel. Makarand foregrounds the in fact, make the life of the poorest of lE novel only. Where and what is the hitherto unchallenged critical amnesia our poor slightly better. That is, after harm, he seems to counter-question about the Indian narrative tradition all, the implication of the Gandhian Frederic Jameson, if most of the third- which ought to have been the originary talisman. (Intro. 17) world narratives turn out to be the source of the theory of the Indian national allegories? The tone and tenor (English)novel. After making allowance This is no innocent aesthetics; its of his discourse is quite critical and for Meenakshi Mukherjee's two brilliant deconstructive potential may undercut interrogative of the claims and critical interventions (Twice-Born Fiction the many-uncritically-accepted myths contentions of the lE literature - which and Realism and Reality), he laments the about the aesthetic as well as the cultural enables him to say with certitude that fact that all Indian critics consider the significance of the post-Rushdie lE the book may invite his colleagues' novel as an imported genre whose origin novel(ists). Thus, Makarand's neo- wrath and dismay. Buthe doesn't glorify is traced to the "colonialistic invention Gandhian theory and praxis may set a the bhasa writers at the expense of the lE of prose in Indian languages, to the wild cat among the pigeons of Indian novelists. The sensibility, according to translation of the Bible into these English Academy; it offers a sound him, is more important than the : languages, to the spread of print- discursive template for a much-needed medium. And it is an open question technology, and the rise of anew, re-construction of Indian theory of whether the bhasa writers always literate, English middle-class" (79-80). narratology. One hopes (as well as fears) portray the Indian sensibility more Makarand takes a cue from Bhal- that the kind of socio-civilizational successfully and meaningfully, though chandra Nemade's influential essay, critique of the lE novel he builds up,in they have "greater scope and capacity "Marathi Kadambari: Prerana va his book may trigger off a radical re- to represent our experience" (Intro.19) Swarupa" to underline the need to assessment of some of the acclaimed than the lE writers do. The whole regard the Indian novel" as an indige- writers of the lE fiction. The spurious agenda is to interrogate what kind of nous outcrop, a native response to reputations, advertised, hyped-up and place lE writers occupy in the Indian changing economic, social, and cultural manipulated through the masterful "cultural spectrum" even if that means forces" (80). It is worthwhile to quote manoeuvres of market forces and the "bringing lE literature down a few Nemade here: native-peddlers of the west-sponsored notches from its surplus elitism and The novel is not an entirely English theory, would fall apart if one were to putting it in its 'proper' place" (Intro.20). form: its origin too is not English. If agree with what Makarand says: It is with these expectations and one were to search its origin, one anxieties that we open the last chapter, In other words, the values that the would have to move from country to "Towards a Poeticsof the Indian English text espouses should interrogate the country and refer to various writers Novel" which remains the tour de force dominant ideology and work for a and works like Decameron, Bendelioe, of the book as it is radically bold and more equitable distribu tion ofpower, the Panchatantra, and so on.
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