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A perceptive writer

Franck Pavloff's book has been translated into Malayalam

BRINGING FRESH INSIGHTS Franck Pavloff

1984 has come and gone, but the Orwellian nightmare lingers on. French author, Franck Pavloff's `Matin Brun' (Brown Morning) is a gentle reminder that every epoch generates totalitarianism of some kind.

In the city for the release of `Thavittu Niram Ulla Prabhatam' the Malayalam translation of his book, the author is sure that the very fact that this twelve-page book has been translated in 25 languages is a pointer to the significance of the theme to each country that has taken the initiative. The Indian journey of the book commences with its translation into seven languages.

`Political quietism'

Written as a reaction to political developments in France in the late Eighties, the author makes you wonder if in the long term conforming to all decisions by a government would imply `political quietism.' Subtle are the ways the establishment gets you to follow their diktat.

It may be a simple demand that only `brown dogs' deserve to live. Each unthinking acquiescence to orders from above is one more step closer to the tightening grip of totalitarian regimes even if it were through means very democratic.

An interesting comment that he makes is, "It may not be a new avatar of a Hitler or a Mussolini that emerges, so one may have to been a keen observer of apparently ordinary events snowballing into an oppressive regime."

While he sets you thinking with works like this he has to his credit writing for children too. How does he balance writing poetry with serious themes that normally feature in his other works.

"Well, I don't write poems about the beauty around me, they mirror the reality and raise hope for the future in the young minds. Society has to be vigilant," says this soft-spoken author.

Even here one knows his eyes track the misdoings of governments. Over ninety per cent of the countries on this globe are signatories to the UN Declaration on Child Rights, but in nine out of ten countries, there is constant violation of the child's rights, reiterates the author who has over two decades of experience as an child rights' activist.

On his first visit to the state, Franck Pavloff is happy that his book will serve as a bridge between peoples, and more so because, "books are the first targets of dictators which they consider more powerful than Kalashinikovs."

Next work

While he moves on with Brown Morning, Pavloff is already working on his next work, which dwells on the journeys of a journalist and a filmmaker through civil war torn Chechnya and Darfur, each trying to find out which is a better medium to project reality. That again promises fresh insights into the many faces of brutalities heaped on the human race, from this perceptive writer.

BHAWANI CHEERATH

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