Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust~Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's ashes reaches home in Colombia

[PHOTO-LA TIMES]

The news flashes a host of memories when we were caught in the magic web woven by Gabo ( the affectionate nickname of the Author) in his books "One hundred of solitude" and "Love in the time of cholera".


Review of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" on goodreads.(17.09.12)

"For a week when I was reading "One hundred years of solitude", I was living in Macondo and lost all my connections with the real world. Every person I met I searched for either Aureliano or Arcadio in him. The whole world could be divided in two types of people Aureliano or Arcadio. The fluidity of transcendence is superb from one Aureliano to other Aureliano. The ordinary has inbuilt extraordinary in it. Rather "more the ordinary" proves "more the extraordinary" in it.
At one time superstitions and premonitions come true, at another time a long narration culminates in a quotation like "Poverty is the servitude of love."
The last paragraph of the book is amazing."It was the history of the family, written by Melquiades, down to the most trivial details, one hundred years ahead of time. He had written it in Sanskrit...".

There is only one epic "Ramayana"  that was written much before the happening of events.

I salute Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez.~Vipin Behari Goyal (Author)

This is what Superman says about his own masterpiece:

"One day I discovered the right tone—the tone that I eventually used in One Hundred Years of Solitude. It was based on the way my grandmother used to tell her stories. She told things that sounded supernatural and fantastic, but she told them with complete naturalness. When I finally discovered the tone I had to use, I sat down for eighteen months and worked every day.

In One Hundred Years of Solitude."

According to Terry Pratchett "Magic Realism is like polite way of saying you write Fantasy".

Gabo says "The trouble is that many people believe that I’m a writer of fantastic fiction, when actually I’m a very realistic person and write what I believe is the true socialist realism."

Author himself want his work to be classified as Social Realism rather than as Magic Realism.

Let us see what the difference is:

Realist author writes about the realities of life as perceived by him through the senses and experience. That reality may not be absolute reality. Perceptions are also deceptions.

Since World is Conical and is divided  in two uneven halves, Proletariat and Capitalist, Oppressed and Oppressor, Rich and poor, Haves and Have-Nots,  and if an author chooses to write about the poverty stricken  people, their life and sufferings (and few breezes of happiness) and struggle, he is said to be writing about Socialist Realism.  

In Magical Realism some unreal events are interwoven in a real story so skillfully that the unreal also appears to be real.

Many authors like Gabo deny their work to be Magical Realism, which is not as high stature of the work as Socialist Realism is.

The magic spelled by him will continue to enchant many coming generations.

The news about the transfer of his ashes appeared as follows:

"The ashes of Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez are heading to the country of his birth, Colombia.

Garcia Marquez -- known to his fans as Gabo -- had been a journalist early in his career and traveled around the world. He settled in Mexico, where he lived for many decades before his death in 2014 at age 87.

But the author of the "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera" often set his fictions in Columbia. The Caribbean city of Cartagena, particularly, served as muse and inspiration."(LA Times).

Writing Tips by Gabriel Garcia Marquez  based on his various interviews:

1. Talk to Old People: Old people are treasure house of stories. Listen to them patiently. Gabo himself was inspired by his grandmother's impassive narrations to write the story of One hundred years of solitude.

2. Read Great Literature: Books written by great authors are always source of inspiration. Gabo wrote his first story after reading Metamorphosis by Kafka.

3. Visit Old Places: Specially the places where you spent your childhood. Your school, playgrounds, city library. It will bring a flood of memories and you would be able to relive a new experience.

4. Writing is hard work:  Gabo considered writing to be a hard work. He said "Ultimately, writing is nothing but a carpentry." He has further explained that "Writing something is almost as hard as making a table. With both, you are working with reality, a material just as hard as wood. Both are full of tricks and techniques. Basically very little magic and a lot of hard work are involved. And as Proust, I think, said, it takes ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration."

5. Read "Earnest Hemingway on writing": Gabo was also inspired by this book. He has appreciated the way Hemmingway has compared writing with Boxing. He agrees that you have to be in a very good emotional and physical state to be a writer.

6. Be a Perfectionist: Be your own best critic. He says" I think that I’m excessively demanding of myself and others because I cannot tolerate errors; I think that it is a privilege to do anything to a perfect degree."

7. Don't be a megalomaniac: Often Authors does this mistake to consider themselves as center of universe and society's conscience.

8. Work in a familiar environment: Some Author's think that they can write better in some resorts or hotels. William Dalrymple  wrote his book City of Djinns in a resort at Luni near Jodhpur. Gabo finds that familiar environment are more congenial for writing than strange places.

9. Choose your best hours: Every person has different best hours of the day. Author must identify and utilise his best hours.

10. Work very hard on First Paragraph: The first paragraph decides the fate of the book. Gabo says "One of the most difficult things is the first paragraph. I have spent many months on a first paragraph, and once I get it, the rest just comes out very easily."

Rest in Peace Gabriel Garcia Marquez

© Vipin Behari Goyal
Advocate, Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur, India

Contemporary Pastoral English Literature

                      The glamour in rural life

The various aspects of rural life, its subjects, descriptions of countryside shepherds and cowherds and their vagabond lifestyle has always fascinated the readers.

Who can forget the famous character, Konstantin Dmitrich Levin from Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. He demystified technology and used it in Agriculture. Of all the male characters in the book any urban girl would easily fall in love with Levin rather than rich, flamboyant  Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky or a powerful cultivated man like Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin.

The dehumanizing factor of technology and if it is possible to make use of technology for inner peace of mind is well explained by Robert M. Pirsig in his book "Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance". The combination of two diagonally opposite virtues "rationality" and "romanticism" could be devastating for future human civilization. The beautiful part of the story is protagonist opts for less traveled side roads rather than Highways to explore and appreciate the slow pace of life, that explains a lot of philosophy in itself.

In Wuthering Heights the conflict of its occupant who are wild and passionate with calm and refined, and setup of the story in the bleak hilltop is symbolic of the unbridgeable gap in the rationales and romantics.

Encyclopedia Britannica defines pastoral literature as a  class of literature that presents the society of shepherds as free from the complexity and corruption of city life.

The rural life is romanticized but the harsh reality of discomforts and malaise are overlooked. Exaggeration is allowed in the literature to make a point. The plantation literature romanticizes Old South in "Gone with the wind" by Margret Mitchell  but does not try to escape the harsh realities of life evident in childbirth and miscarriages.  Scarlett's love for Ashley, who represent Old South is like chasing an impossible dream that one knows in his heart would never be fulfilled, is romantic and she overlooks Rhett's love who represents New South that is opportunistic and strong willed to succeed is realistic.

This dilemma of realism versus romanticism has baffled the society for long. Though a champion of realism the human mind finds its solace in romanticizing.

Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez has undoubtedly been one of the best authors of our time. In his novel "One hundred years of Solitude" he has given vivid descriptions of banana plantation age and calamities in the imaginary town of Macondo. He weaves a dream that entangles readers who not only when novel is read, but even much after that has a hangover of the town and the characters who lived there refuses him solitude. That is called magical realism.

In his other novel "Love in the time of Cholera" the old age and death has same suffering as that of youth. Could death be romanticized in a better way?

Another best author is J. M. Coetzee. His widely acclaimed novel Disgrace draws a clear line of demarcation in the treachery of urban life and rustic yet peaceful ambience of rural life. David the professor is  humiliated and sacked from the University after complaints from his student (Melanie), though the act was consensual and on the other hand, in the rural farm his own daughter is raped, but she refuses to act humiliated shows that technically advance urban can lead to a disgrace which even a dog would not face in real and pure rural life.

One can read my book "Empty Cocoon" about conflicts in rural-urban life.

Overburdened, the super human would find the true values of life under the shadow of an old tree in the tranquility of a village pond where the dust of the  cattle and trailing herd man returning home would obliterate the view of sunset.

© Vipin Behari Goyal

Author is also Advocate at Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur

Authors can't afford to be a Hypocrite

                                 DO AS I SAY AND NOT AS I DO

The false profession of desirable or publicly approved qualities, beliefs, or feelings, esp. A pretense of having virtues, moral principles, or religious beliefs that one does not really possess.~Dictionery

In Literature such protagonists are not uncommon who are hypocrites and are abhorred by readers. Sometimes such characters are successful in worldly sense, but the author does not like to establish supremacy of vices and shows how such characters burn in the fire of hell created by their own psyche.

That is why an author cannot afford to be a hypocrite himself. If he is good, he is good, if he is bad he is bad. There is no pretension, a desire to be respected for the virtues he does not possess. Many a times the personal life of authors are controversial, even to the extent that they are considered as a threat to the society. 

Authors usually do not follow the systems built by society and they have to constantly experiment with system and values of an Individual and the Society. They become a spectator and this neutral approach is the only source of their comprehension.

Author is a proletarian and has a matter-of-fact approach to solve the riddles of life. But his readers are aristocracy whose Hippocratic  life style  is exposed and criticized and in the heart they discard such books but admire openly in clubs and bars. 

Russians have a history of condemning hypocrisy. Putin has been alleged to have "Double Standard" when he attacked the Ukraine government for attacks action against pro-Russian separatist in eastern Ukraine while he has recently signed a   law criminalizing any act of separatist.

What would be 'height of hypocrisy' or who would be a 'hypocrite of the first order' could be a matter  of perspective or cultural thing, but some countries are definitely known for  hypocrisy which is part of their Diplomacy. The secret hegemonic ambition of a country or an individual are sometime so powerful that other nations (Canada, EU) which lack self-confidence find it secure to blindly follow them, shamelessly. Whether it is stand of Russia in Crimean case  or issue of Israel in Palestine the nations have no shame for double standard since it is accepted norm of behavior from politicians all over the world.

It is so surprising to see that even Religious leadership is also behaving duplicately, which is just opposite to the task entrusted by society on them. Whether it is a Hindu Brahmin who serves as a priest or a Muslim priest or a Christian Priest, they have crossed the limits of immorality while preaching morality to the public.

Some of them have been tried in the courts for rape, molestation, cheating, child abuse and even murder, but still the majority of the population of every religion has faith in their priest. If there is God, in all probability there is, He does not need a mediation of any kind to talk to us or solve our problem.

Andrew M. Greeley was an Irish-American Priest, and he wrote many fiction and nonfiction and never used contraception for his ideas. His deadly sin series and novels like The priestly sins were severely criticized for explicitly exposing religious catholic institutions.

In the end Greely says "I am a priest..Pure and simple.." And that is what every author has to be if he wants to create literature of the first order.

© Vipin Behari Goyal

Author is also Advocate at Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur

Age of Wisdom in English Literature

                                    Waiting for Age of Wisdom

George Ritzer the sociologist, first time used the word McDonaldization exhibiting the Fast Food characteristics adopted by society. The four primary components identified by him have also moved in the Global Literature. The Harry Potter and 50 Shades of Grey are the McDonald of Literature.

McDonaldization is nothing but another kind of rationalization emphasizing change in traditions and cultural values. The shifting of values is not in the positive direction. Even though the nature is doing its best to teach the predicament of advancement, man is not yet ready to learn any cheap lesson. The question is who would pay the price of costly lessons? Obviously The Poorest class of the mankind would suffer the disasters created by nature, and the rich would get another chance of proving their generosity.

An eBook can be published much quicker than McDonald delivers Pizza at your doorstep. So far as writing a book is concerned, it is just like McDonald doesn't grow the potatoes to make McFries similarly authors, hunt for ideas and plot of the story in published or unpublished literature of other authors. If authors could only learn to grow their own potatoes, they would never be labeled as McDonaldised.

How many copies Sold? Is the first question when you talk about a book. The Sell has become synonymous with quality, while once it was believed that quality always suffers in the hands of quantity. Why otherwise Carlyle should say 'There are nine fools in the world for one wise man..."One should write what people want to read or one should write what he wants to write and should not bother if his work is accepted or rejected by society. Is there any responsibility to refine the taste of people on the creative artist?

Predictability is a great asset for any product to win the heart of the customer. A book having clichés like Love, Girl Friend, Boy Friend, Heart, Friendship, Break Up along with an enchanting book cover of boy and girl, holding hands, crying, the monogram of a broken heart or walking in different direction have become the success formulas  in literature. Also, you have to encash the wave of theme or genre, if live-in relationship is in thing write about it and if semi-erotica is breaking the record of Sale, you must also try your hand on that. Many Indian Publisher would conform to the view that books are sold by name of the title and attractive cover design.

                                                                               pixabay

If we look further back at the post industrial revolution and the emergence of romanticism we realize that despite the advancement of science and technology man has remained spontaneous, irrational, imaginative and emotional. In the entire cosmos there is a cycle of the Age of Barbarianism,  Age of  materialism, Age of individualism, Age of industrialization, Age of enlightenment, Age of Romanticism, Age of rationalization and Age of Wisdom. We are only few centuries far from Age of Wisdom.

Literature is now mostly being read for entertainment. A novel is like a peanut you want to munch while travelling or waiting in a queue at the dentist. What we need is the De - McDonaldization of Literature. Micro-cosmos within man is harmonious with nature only when he shed off all that is artificial and learns to respect what is Original and Natural.

© Vipin Behari Goyal

Stealing the Ideas is The Idea

                                  Plagiarism is the worst kind of Theft

Whoever may steal whatever is most precious in the world is not as condemnable as the thief of literature. And there are lots. This is one of the most heinous, shameful and despicable kind of theft invented by the mankind. The original creator remains anonymous and thief who is apt in the management skills climbs the stairs of success. Constant repetition of a lie, and finding that no one has disputed his claim of authority, boost his self confidence, and he trusts the distrust created by himself.

Recent charges of Plagiarism against Chetan Bhagat by Dr. Birbal Jha an academician of Bihar (author of Englishia Boli) has once again raised the controversy which once began with "Snapshots from hell" which was copied into "Five point someone". Contemporary Indian authors have started claiming that they may not be sold as much as him, but at least they are original.

The irony is, just by changing few narrations, dialogues, descriptions and sequence of events the copyright authorities can be manipulated to issue you a copyright certificate of a duplicate or plagiarist work. So plagiarism is different from copyright infringement, since the later is a punishable offense. In modern age where communication is so fast and Global exposure is instant, such plagiarism is brought to light later or sooner, though by that time plagiarist has already enjoyed the fruit of his labor(?).

Unfortunately, such charges are levied against successful people, most of the plagiarist are not exposed till they are successful. Many films are made on the same subject simultaneously, but one is successful and others are flop, that is how if the same story is written by two different authors, one may sale like hot cake and other would stale. Language, thought, idea and expression and their representation in any literary work could also be a coincidence and judiciary may pronounce a clean chit to the offender.

There are of course different kinds of plagiarist depending upon the intention by which offense has been committed. A student while doing a research project or dissertation may omit to mention the source of his citations (University of Illinois at Chicago) or a Journalist may hide the source of his information, multiple publication of his own work by an author are various kinds of theft of artistic creativity.

So extrovertly a reader is the best judge to compare two works and decide if one is a copy of another, and introvertly  the conscience of an author can judge if he has lifted the idea and transformed it into a viable project in his own name. Many authors are the writers who consider it as profession to earn money and fame, while the true purpose of the literature is to create a work that develops a better understanding of human nature and the Universal determination of it. Once we acknowledge this, there would remain a chance when World would be a peaceful place to live without war, killings, poverty and hunger.

Remember what T.S. Eliot said "Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal. Bad poets deface what they take."

© Vipin Behari Goyal

Read  more at­­­­:  http://vipinbeharigoyal.blogspot.in/

Why an Author is anti-bourgeois ?

                          Why an Author is anti-bourgeois

                                                                              I Do, I Undo and I Redo

Affluence  and emotions seldom go together. It is not like Monk who sold his Ferrari, but he could become a monk only after he sold Ferrari and compunctions attached with it. What is frantically chased in the society (suppose Property) would be a bugaboo for an author and exhausted by the rat race around him he would exclaim "Property is murder"! But the world would go on... ! Frustrated by futility of energy and efforts around him author would find a rescue and solace in jotting down his views. Things happen, not by determinism, but by super-determinism, when nature pick and choose like a hovering kite a bourgeois rat to modify it into a human being.

                     At that time such literature becomes handy. Book Expo America would have to go miles and declare many Read Russia English Translation Prize before the essence of Russian Literature could transcend into the  mainstream literature of the United States. Intellectualism, literally and not philosophically, is engaged in plutocracy in the United States. Awarding prize is also a symbol of bourgeois system and is condemnable by true intellectuals.

                        You need not to be a Russophiles to understand Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, but the only book that can make you a Russophile is Lolita, or may be "Diary of a Seducer" by Soren Kierkegaard written 150 years back after the turmoil of his break up with Regine Olsen. Anytime in the history of mankind when society would be able to see the human psyche beyond the tag of pedophile not as maniacs, but  as a sufferer of super-determinism©, may comprehend that the any system, aesthetic or ethical, can truly lead people in the right direction, save his own inner conscience.

                           The path that leads to right direction is just opposite to the path adopted by the society of US. Would past ever catch up with present or our roller-coaster-society is already riding the fourth wave is yet to discern, and whether the world is round, flat or conical ( almost all stats are in conical form©), the literature would always supersede science and materialism, the only true enemies of individualism.

                             If any other Literature needs to be translated in all the languages of the world is ancient Indian literature written in Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrat languages.

                            Theosophy and Literature went hand in hand for many centuries at the dawn of civilization, sharing  the common objective of  seeking direct knowledge of, presumed mysteries of being and nature. On the contrary bourgeois suffered from the syndrome of Obsessive-Compulsive-Disorder in multiplication of wealth and adopting the values of the capitalist class. At a point the realisation dawns that respect earned by wealth was superficial and one loses status as soon as that wealth is lost, one starts acknowledging the value of literature that gives immortal glory to the status of a man and thus to society he belonged.

                             The stereotyped bourgeois never become extinct. 'Haves' would not enjoy the life if there are no 'Have-notes', and vice-versa may also be true. May be, just a thought!

© Vipin Behari Goyal

Wonderful Small Books

                      Does size matters?

             The classification of book as novel, novella, novelette and short story is not an easy job. Reviewers/Editors/Critiques classify randomly and seldom bother to follow international standard. Some literary guild had been doing the exercise but they also do not have universal acceptance. 

              If we say that the novella is written with a satirical, moral or educational nature and purpose, it would be a gross generalization and the very object of the author could be defeated by such blatant categorization. Or a story may even have the ingredient of a novel like multiple characters, sub-plots, conflicts and twists, and all novels are also ultimately a story.

              "The Science Fiction" and "Fantasy Writers of America" specifies word lengths for each category of its Nebula award categories: Novel over 40,000 words, Novella 17,500 to 40,000 words, Novelette 7,500 to 17,500 words, Short Story under 7,500 words.

             How the words would be counted, is also not defined. There are different opinions and "different word counting programs may give varying results, depending on the text segmentation rule details, and on whether words outside the main text (such as footnotes, endnotes, or hidden text) are counted. But the behavior of most major word processing applications is broadly similar" as endorsed by Wiki.

           A reader, however remains unaffected by such jugglery and is straightforward in judging the true value of the books. Some, such books which are though small in word count, but have influenced the life or thought process of millions of people are listed here. If by chance we have over passed any of them earlier this is the high time to pick it now.

1. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull by Richard Bach is a book that teaches self -perfection, how to be true to yourself and keep working on love. It is motivational, life changing book, if taken seriously.

2. Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky is a book from which many theories of Philosophies have emerged and also a paradigm shift in many existing philosophies has occurred. The description of mental state when one enjoys sufferings and conscious inertia makes this book as a masterpiece.

3.  The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery is most-read, most-translated book of the world. The book has been tagged in the category of "Children's Book" would sure leave every mature wondering about the strangeness and logistics of the adult world.

4. Who moved my cheese? By Spencer Johnson would change how you perceive the changes that are taking place in your life. It is written like a fable which has maximum appeal for the human psyche.

5. Self-reliance by R.W. Emerson  is a book of essay. You may have to re-read to grasp the depiction of self worth by trusting your own self.

6. The old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway can be put at the top of the list, if this matters at all. There are very few books in the world that would touch your heart and mind both equally. Moreover who would not honor the struggle of old man and also would feel honored in doing so.

             This list would grow if you can add few books of your choice in the comments.

   

Fooled by Translation

        

                      Fooled By Translation

Had India not remained slave to British for many centuries, our perception of English as a language would have been different. The words like Pre-Colonial  and Post-Colonial Literature would not have segmented our rich heritage of Sanskrit and Hindi Literature. One can dare say that amazing books have been written in Hindi and regional languages in India, which are at par, if not superior to books written in English. India has not come out of the spell cast by “Queen’s Language” which British thought was their monopoly.

However, USA also remained a colony but the English was already a native language of America, which is acknowledged as American English. While the Indian English is considered as crude copy of standard British English and has failed to develop an identity like American English.

The fact that despite critiques accused “Of man and mice” a masterpiece by John Steinbeck for vulgarity, racism and slang, the author was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature and American Literary Association classified the book as “Most challenged book of 21st Century”.

The Nobel Laureate of USA, Saul Bellow, Canadian born American author was brought up in Chicago and English was his native language. His books viz., The dangling man, Herzog, Seize the day, Revelstein are written in American English which has its own set of rules for  spelling, grammar, punctuation and style which are sometimes in contradiction to standard British English.

Most of the popular books that we read were not written in English originally. For example Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García Márquez, Paulo Coelho wrote in Spanish, Fyodor Dostoyevsky , Anton Chekhov Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Gogol, Maxim Gorky, Boris Pasternak, Vladimir Nabokov, in Russian,  Haruki Murakami Yasunari Kawabata in Japanese, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Victor Hugo  Gustave Flaubert, Simone de Beauvoir in French.

These are only a few examples of popular authors. Sometime you may come across a bad translation and then it would be difficult to complete that book. Jacques Derrida says

“What must be translated of that which is translatable can only be the untranslatable. ”

Original always lacks its translation. It depends upon the translator if it fills up the gap in the way a story was created and perception of the reader, or widens it. Samuel Beckett who was a bilingual author who wrote in English as well as French said that the translator’s failure is, thus, an ‘interesting failure’.

Most of Indian knows good English but they are afraid of speaking and writing something because they think that some would mock at them, who has nothing substantial to say but has little better knowledge of grammar or punctuation.

The proper outlet for the creativity of such persons is translation of rich Hindi and regional language literature into English, if they have nothing to say anything of their own.

English is the lingua Franca of the world. If what is said is understood as it should be, the purpose of the language is served.

It is high time we make our own Chicago manual (may be Mumbai Manual) . The Mumbai has more English speaking people than anywhere else in India, and that too without hesitation of getting a tag.
Views of Gabriel Garcia Marquez on translator

"I have great admiration for translators except for the ones who use footnotes. They are always trying to explain to the reader something which the author probably did not mean; since it’s there, the reader has to put up with it. Translating is a very difficult job, not at all rewarding, and very badly paid. A good translation is always a re-creation in another language. That’s why I have such great admiration for Gregory Rabassa. My books have been translated into twenty-one languages and Rabassa is the only translator who has never asked for something to be clarified so he can put a footnote in. I think that my work has been completely re-created in English. There are parts of the book which are very difficult to follow literally. The impression one gets is that the translator read the book and then rewrote it from his recollections. That’s why I have such admiration for translators. They are intuitive rather than intellectual. Not only is what publishers pay them completely miserable, but they don’t see their work as literary creation. There are some books I would have liked to translate into Spanish, but they would have involved as much work as writing my own books and I wouldn’t have made enough money to eat."

                                                           ~Vipin Behari Goyal