IN THE NEWS
Exploring silence
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Kannada has had a rich tradition of little magazines. The latest, Deshakaala, may just become the catalyst for new literary movements, says S. DIWAKAR
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"THE writer must define his audience by its abilities, by its perfections, so far as he is gifted to conceive them. He does well, if he cannot see his right audience within immediate reach of his voice, to direct his words to his spiritual ancestors, or to posterity, or even, if need be, to a coterie. The writer serves his daemon and his subject. And the democracy that does not know that the daemon and the subject must be served is not, in any ideal sense of the word, a democracy at all", wrote the distinguished American critic Lionel Trilling in his remarkable essay, "The Function of the Little Magazine". If the long tradition of little magazines in Kannada had always strived to realise this ideal, it's mainly because of those perceptive writers who ran such magazines with tremendous creativity and intellectual honesty.
Rich tradition
One recalls with pride the early 20th Century little magazines in Kannada like Masti Venkatesha Iyengar's Jeevana and Betageri Krishna Sharma's Jayanthi. Among the many Kannada poets and writers whose early reputations owed much to little journals like these were all those who have become literary icons today including Kuvempu, Bendre, K.S. Narasimha Swamy and Bagalodi Deva Rao. It was a time when literature had something of the sacred still clinging to it, however tenuously.
In the 1960s, three young writers (Chandrasekhar Patil, Giraddi Govindaraja and Siddhalinga Pattanashetti) launched a bi-monthly, Sankarmana, to publish new writing mostly ignored by mass-circulated magazines. Almost at the same time, the path-breaking poet Gopalakrishna Adiga started his quarterly, Saakshi, which proved to be a driving force for a unique literary movement called the Navya or the Modern. This movement, in the words of another important poet, Ramachandra Sharma, "had a telling effect on the way one perceived and communicated experience". For over two decades Saakshi brought to the fore a galaxy of remarkable poets and writers, gradually paving the way for the emergence of Dalit/ Bandaya movements. Then came U.R. Anantha Murthy's Rijuvaathu, a quarterly which encompassed a variety of critical voices — political, literary, cultural. Here I should also mention the contributions of two other little magazines, Shudra and Samvada.
Waiting for a movement
Kannada has one of the most vibrant literatures in India and the most developed genre is the short story. But this doesn't ring true in the case of novel, poetry or drama. Considering the present state of Kannada literature, one is tempted to conclude that the scene is ripe for yet another new literary trend or movement. The latest literary quarterly Deshakaala (Space and Time) appears to take a step in that direction.
Edited by Vivek Shanbhag, himself a well known fiction writer, the first issue of Deshakaala was released by Girish Karnad and is lavishly produced. Contents include an essay by U.R. Anantha Murthy, a chapter from Chandrashekar Kambar's novel-in-progress, translations of Malayalam poet P. Raman and Japanese writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa's "In the Grove", a story which takes you with a jolt to the depths of the soul. In addition, K.V. Akshara's forum has brought together a host of thinkers including Ramachandra Guha, John Oliver Perry, G. Rajasekhar and Vaidehi. Rarely has so much talent been compressed into so small a space.
As Vivek states in his editorial, "In these times of constant change we need moments `to stand and ponder' in order to perceive the changes taking place in the spheres that directly influence our life... Nothing is understood if there were no space between words, no silence between whatever spoken..." Reading through the magazine, one hopes that Deshakaala will go a long way in promoting some of the best writing that provide those very precious "moments".
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