|
Literary Review
The missing spark
SHEILA KUMAR
|
This volume tries to deconstruct the art of storytelling
|
What Happened Next; Granta; Rs 395.
What would we do without the stories that make up our lives, that are an integral part of it, that give so much colour to our otherwise humdrum routine? Well, if you delve into this edition of Granta’s New Writing, hoping to
imbibe much good stuff, I’m sorry but you are in for something of a disappointment.
Despite the roster holding names like Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, Nell Freudenberger, biographer Philip Hoare, most stories fail to touch your heart or appeal to your intellect. In the first, very readable piece, Tim Adams interviews one of Dirty Realist writers, Richard Ford, who says of writing and writers: “We make much of what might be small experience.” In What Happened Next, the small experience remains just that, small.
Street pictures
Like always, a pictorial feature breaks up the prose; in this case, its street pictures by Joel Seinfeld. Using extra daylight flash, the veteran snapster hits the street and what emerges is a collage of people on the move, people caught in a still- life warp, people rushing, rushing, rushing...and the viewer knows they just may not reach wherever they are rushing off to.
Philip Hoare tells us about the unusual post of Receiver of Wreck which, in other words, is the post of a whale undertaker! For a change, the tone of the report in “Whaling” is not unduly accusative; Hoare is objective in reporting the humungous amount of whale deaths per year, going on to detail just how difficult it is to dispose of whale carcass. And just when you think offenders will be let off the hook, right at the end, Hoare writes of whale slaughter so evocatively, the reader draws in a sharp breath. And the point is made.
Nony Singh’s “Nony and Nixi” is a perfect example of how pictures tell the story more effectively than prose, at times. Nony is well-known photographer Dayanita Singh’s mother, Dayanita is Nixi; Nony’s pictures make you stop and stare, turn the page, then return to the pictures to stare again… and you realise Dayanita isn’t the only talented shutterbug in that family; as a matter of fact, Nony’s grandfather was one, too. Nony’s family live their lives out, at times gazes out at the observer from the snaps; there are pictures of rooms, light sconces, lovely studies in shade and light, a perfect eye for detail.
“Tree Thieves” by Josh Weil is less about an unexpected encounter with timber thieves than the terrors of the African jungle as experienced by young and not-so-brave Noah. “Which Reminded Her, Later” is a great title but the story is less than great; Jon McGregor tells us about a vicarage into which walks a mysterious woman with a propensity for, of all things, pots and post of yoghurt. She leaves as mysteriously as she came, and you wonder what the fuss was all about.
No empathy
Freudenberger’s “The Virgin of Esmeralda” is a coming-of-age story. You read, but you don’t empathise. Chimamanda’s piece is a tribute to someone who was more than a friend, less than a lover. In “Wheels of Progress”, Gemini Wahhaj talks of an expedition gone bad in Chittagong. Bakher Khan, the driver, starts out in awe of his white employers but by the end of the day, does a turnabout of emotions. No atmosphere, no background.
So there we have it, a slew of stories, some made up, some true, none embellished, some played down with what we take to be deliberate intent. Some are downright dreary, and the real tragedy, is, none of them hold the spark so vital to a story. Whether on paper or lived through life.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Literary Review
|
