More Comments "Of censorship and the books that nobody reads"

Dear Nibir

I was interested in your piece.  I’m afraid I never read Satanic Verses but heard Salman Rushdie quote a passage at The South Bank a number of years ago when a variety of writers whose work had been banned or suppressed appeared on stage.  I felt, at the time, that there was a touch of intellectual arrogance and though I was really interested in The Moor’s Last Sigh and have been urged to read Midnight’s Children by several people, I have had a few reservations about Rushdie.  I remember Attia Hosain whom I knew (do you know her work?) did not approve and also what is interesting is that had he not called it Satanic Verses, the publication history might have been different.  Freedom of speech is one thing but why not some diplomacy as well.

With best wishes,

Anita Money, London.

Dear Nibir,

Thanks for passing this on to me.  I enjoyed what you had to say and agree with you totally.  By the way, your article made me reflect on all the nonsense that’s been taking place at Delhi University with regard to A.K. Ramanujan’s old article on the various versions of the Ramayana.  There seems to be no end of craziness.

With warmest regards,

Mike (Prof Michael Shapiro, Seattle,USA.)

Comments from Charles Johnson

Nibir, 

I DID enjoy reading this. Your quotations from Milton and D.H. Lawrence are worth a reader memorizing. And I had the same experience with The Satanic Verses that you did. I just couldn't read it. But "Of Censorship and the books that nobody reads" was a pleasure from start to finish.

Sadar Pranam,

Chuck

Charles Johnson is American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and cartoonist.  Johnson gained international prominence when his novel Middle Passage (1990) won the National Book Award in 1990, the first African American Writer to.get the award after Ralph Ellison.

Of Censorship and the books that nobody reads

Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody reads.

- George Bernard Shaw

Apprehending arrest for reading passages from Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, four eminent Indian English writers had to abruptly disappear from the 2012 Jaipur Literature Festival. Engrossed in the bliss of ignorance, they possibly forgot that “You can discuss a book, read from other writings by the author, have conversations with him, invite him, but you cannot either possess a copy or publicly read from a book that is banned.” So explained William Dalrymple, the co-Director of the Festival, and went on to add how “the consequences could be serious for the four delegates since the readings constituted a premeditated act.” After such knowledge what forgiveness!

Since time immemorial controversies around bans and censorships have always evoked and generated tremendous amount of interest both in the educated elite and the illiterate. The graph of public curiosity naturally rises when it pertains to anything that is denied for reasons extending from the sublime to the ridiculous. It reaches a feverish pitch especially when the issue in question is either pornographic or pertains to what Karl Marx referred to as the “opium of the masses.” Battle lines are instantly drawn between the self-appointed guardians of public morality and over-enthusiastic defenders of free speech and action, be it the case of Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover or Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. Though it would be an exercise in futility to ruminate time and again on whether a book ought to be banned for offending the sensibility or the fundamentalist sensitivity of a certain class of people, I do feel the urge to recall a particular passage from John Milton’s immortal treatise against censorship entitled “Areopagitica”: “Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to the earth; but a good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.”

What I find seminal in Milton’s classic statement, an adage that most of us have grown up with, is his emphasis on the phrase, “a good book,” which many of us may tend to miss while discussing censorship or ban. I distinctly recall that what had impressed me most about Lady Chatterley’s Lover, when I lay hands on it for the first time, was not the picture of alluring nudity displayed on the frontispiece of the book or the charge of obscenity that was brought against it; I saw the magnetic appeal of Lawrence’s magnum opus in his very opening statement: “Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.”

I discovered on reading the novel how the inherent complexity of life after the apocalypse was as significant as the intimate scenes involving the union of Connie and Mellors and how the blending of these twin concerns went on to create an exquisite work of art. In this context it may not be out of place to quote Oscar Wilde: “The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame."

Contrary to my admiration for Lawrence’s novel, I wish to cite an instance related to my initial date with The Satanic Verses. When Rushdie’s novel hit the stands in 1988, fetching the author $2 million within a few months of its publication, it immediately stirred the proverbial hornet’s nest and initiated a controversy that has not dimmed in any way with the passage of time. I was obviously intrigued by Rushdie’s open letter to Rajiv Gandhi, then prime minister of India, which I happened to see on the front page of The Indian Express. Protesting against the ban imposed on the book on the testimony of a few parliamentarians who had not cared to read the book, Rushdie had stated: “The right to freedom of expression is at the foundation of any democratic society….I ask you this question: What sort of India do you wish to govern? Is it to be an open or a repressive society?”

At that point of time, I was working on my book Calculus of Power at the American Studies Research Centre, Hyderabad. When a friend made The Satanic Verses available, I tried reading a couple of pages and found the experience excruciatingly unenjoyable and gave up the effort in despair. Over the years, I have come across many honest readers whose opinions about the book have not been much different. Though I confess being an avid reader of many of Rushdie’s other works and greatly admire him as an icon of IWE, I’d reiterate the absurdity of banning books that are considered unreadable. This approach, I guess, would be wiser and safer than suppressing the suppressors of freedom of expression.

Nibir K. Ghosh

Chief Editor

Editorial, Re-Markings Vol. 11 No.1, March 2012

Postscript

It is heartening to know that even highly acclaimed writers are not unaware of the significance of a good story that appeals to the “laws of our primary nature.” For instance, we may look at a lyrical passage from Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things:

The secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably….They are as familiar as the house you live in. Or the smell of your lover’s skin. You know how they end, yet you listen as though you don’t. In the way that although you know that one day you will die, you live as though you won’t. In the Great Stories you know who lives, who dies, who finds love, who doesn’t. And yet you want to know again.

I wonder how many of us would really like to glance at the novel for the sake of reading a “Great Story.”

Celebrating Re-Markings' Journey

Dear Dr Nibir ji,

Hearty Congratulations!

We are so happy to learn that Re-Markings has stepped into the eleventh year.It looks as though only yesterday I saw the first issue.How swiftly time moves on!

But, it is not that easy to run a scholarly, literary journal for a decade and more, struggling all the while to maintain the high standards it has set for itself.This is where the secret of your success lies. A modest person that you are, always shunning publicity and pomp, slowly and steadily you have worked silently setting lofty bench marks  to surpass.

The rich contribution made and invaluable time and energy invested have born fruits fabulously.Thanks for inspiring and supporting people like me from time to time.Your love for friends and splendid service-oriented approach have eminently elevated you among quality circles so lovingly created and nurtured by you.
Thank you so much sir!

This is an occasion for us to celebrate.Then,party kahan aur kab hoga, sir ji!

Thanks once again for allowing me into the family.

Kudos to you and Re-Markings team!

best regards,
mouli

 

Dr. T.S. Chandramouli is a Senior Academic, Critic, translator and poet based at Hyderabad.

Truth Vs. Falsehood

Re-Markings Vol. X No. 2, September 2011 

(Ten Years, Twentieth Issue)

Editorial

If the ancient Indian civilization and the Roman Empire were once known for attributes of glory and greatness, what links India and Italy in contemporary times is rampant corruption in every segment of social and political life. Indians visiting Italy may find the nation almost like a second home: life is chaotic, no one obeys the rules, policemen can be bribed to any extent even to be tacit accomplices in crime, there is massive tax evasion, the mafia controls real estate, the government counts for little, and, for the powers that be, life can indeed be a bed of roses at the expense of the national exchequer.

In this context I am unwittingly reminded of a painting that I had seen, among numerous other exhibits, at the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston, Massachussetts, during the course of my Fulbright year (2003-04) in the U.S. This canvas entitled "The Truth Unveiled by Time," painted by the Italian artist, Giambattista Tiepolo (1696-1770), around 1743, shows a young woman, representing Truth, holding a mirror in her right hand, while her left supports the disk of the sun, symbolising the light of Reason. The naked, soft sensual body of the young woman with a bared nipple is clasped in the arms of Time represented as an old man. On the right of the painting appears Falsehood, dazzled by the blinding light of Truth.

In the corridors of Italian power and pelf, this painting created quite a flutter among all sane citizens. According to the express wishes of the Italian Prime Minister, Mr. Silvio Berlusconi, a copy of this painting was placed as the backdrop of his media briefing room in Palazzo Chigi after he took office for the third time in 2008. It is believed that this painting was chosen because of its title. A couple of months ago, while the prime minister was becoming entangled in a succession of controversies involving women friends and associates, Berlusconi was apprehensive that the exposed breasts could “offend the sensibilities of some people,” and apparently decided to cover the woman’s naked breasts, fully exposed in the original painting, by a white veil. It is rumored that since Truth has a new top fitted by Berlusconi's image consultant, Lies should feel altogether more at ease in the office of Italy's prime minister. As reported by Hilary Clark for The Independent in Rome, “In his former life as a media entrepreneur, Mr. Berlusconi part-built a multibillion-pound media empire on revenues generated by television programmes featuring gyrating women showing-off their naked breasts.” After such knowledge, what forgiveness!

Though the present Indian prime minister may personally stand unquestionably committed to ethics and morality, the elite lineup at the Tihar jail – Ministers, MPs, bureaucrats, senior police officials, doctors, teachers, members of judiciary and the like – ought to convince anyone how deeply embedded in the national consciousness is the cancer of corruption. The abhorrence displayed by all power-brokers towards Anna Hazare’s crusade for bringing everyone in power under the scanner amply justifies the fact that Truth needs cover-ups so that it does not find illumination by the light of reason. In the corrupted currents of today’s world, it is ironical that Truth, unlike in Tiepolo’s painting, must be constrained to remain dazzled by the glaring lights of Falsehood. That makes the world a dangerous place to live not because of the people who perpetuate evil but because of the saner ones who prefer to remain ‘strictly neutral’ and do nothing about it.

The challenge before all of us – writers, academics and intellectuals –  is, therefore, to give up the comfortable stance of neutrality and engage ourselves in our own little ways to conjure and create a world where Truth remains unembarrassed by falsehood.

--Nibir K. Ghosh,

Chief Editor

More Comments on Charles Johnson: Embracing the World

Dear Nibir:

 

I just wanted you to know that I just received my copy of Charles Johnson: Embracing the World. That condensed biography is phenomenal. What would the non-condensed version look like?  The text is multifaceted, rich, and global. I like the subtitle; it speaks to Chuck's cosmopolitan sensibilities, his complex identity, and the universal thrust of his ideas, narratives, and motifs captured in his philosophical fiction. The fact that there are so many genres of writing within the text is evidence enough of the plural and inexhaustible style of Chuck. Of course, his work is also deeply pragmatic, but by no means ad hoc. He is a principled writer, ethically and stylistically. His work is indeed an attempt to embrace the world and thereby militates against myopia, sectarianism and unnecessary tribal perspectives. There is something in his writing that paradoxically captures with great precision that space of the human as expressed within the mundane of everyday life. Yet, his work has a vertical axis that never forgets the mystery of human existence. I think that he is motivated from both places, fully grounded and yet transcendent. He is able to touch our emotions in their raw and ever evolving states and yet capture something of the universal human spirit that is always already deferred, postponed. Perhaps this dynamic of deferral is due to the multiple manners-of-given-ness of human reality. Human reality is a process that is inexhaustible, something that stays just beyond the reach of the writer's pen. It teases, showing us exhilarating flashes. Yet, it remains ultimately concealed, one more step ahead.   

Thanks for putting this together and for including my voice within it.

 

best, george                                       

Dr. George Yancy is Associate Professor of Philosophy & Coordinator of the Critical Race Theory Speaker Series at Duquesne University, USA.

Re-Markings Celebrates Ten Years, 20th issue: Some More Comments

Dear Nibir,

I have now had the chance to read your editorial, which is something I read first, have always admired reading, and look forward to reading when a copy arrives. This time I was amply rewarded - thanks for it. I just hope readers get to read my poem too - in context. Let me know if you get any feedback on the poem. Poetry is such a marginalized activity these days that it is really wonderful of you to continue to support it...

 

I also really liked your conversation with Jonah Raskin. He is clearly a kindred soul - and you asked interesting questions too. The various comments made about you/ Re-Markings were also fascinating. S Ramaswamy's remarks and Omkar Sane's piece were wonderful - in their own ways.

 

Jayanta's poems I liked too, and look forward to reading more of the articles in your excellent tenth anniversary issue. All good wishes, Shanta Acharya: Dr. Shanta Acharya lives in London. Her study, The Influence of Indian Thought on Ralph Waldo Emerson, was published by The Edwin Mellen Press, USA. Her latest poetry collection, her fifth, is Dreams That Spell the Light (Arc Publications, UK; 2010). She has published over 300 poems in major publications in the U.K., U.S.A., and India.

Dear Nibir,

Thanks for sending me a link to all these well-deserved tributes to Re-Markings and to you as editor. I wish you many more years of success and productivity. All the best, Morris: Professor Morris Dickstein is a literary and cultural critic and Distinguished Professor of English at the City University of New York.

Thanks, Nibir and many congratulations! I agree wholeheartedly with Johnson's articulations of              Re-Markings’ remarkableness. Thanks, Jonathan Little: Chairman, Dept. of English, Alverno College, Milwaukee, U.S.A.

Dear Dr. Ghosh,

I came to know of your journal through a website of the professors of English in Delhi University. Surprising that a journal of such merit and long standing is not known to most of us here. It is indeed a matter of great achievement to bring out a journal of this calibre for ten long years, twice a year. I shall be happy to subscribe to it from now on. Do let me know the subscription and how to go about it. Prof. Sushil Gupta, Delhi University

Congratulations Sir! In this era of internet, where reading habits are more or less extinct, the success of this journal brings cool breeze. Credit for this goes to you, contributors & subscribers. Wishing you more successful decades ahead- Akhil: Dr. Akhil Kr. Singh, M.D.

Dear Nibir,

Congratulations to you and the entire team of Re-Markings for completing a Decade of Publication. I am extremely lucky to be your friend and take pleasure in the fact that you too consider me worthy of your friendship. I had absolutely no doubt whatsoever that under your stewardship Re-Markings will progress by leaps and bounds and would celebrate the Golden Jubilee also. I wish you all and Re-Markings a great future and grand success. Once again Heartiest Congratulations!! -- Professor Padmakar Pande, RTM Nagpur University, Nagpur.

Sir,

It’s truly great. I feel blessed and elated on being your research scholar. May God bless you with many more achievements! I pray for your good health and success. Deep regards – Supriya Bhandari, Moga

Dear Nibir, 

Thank you for sending me the recent tributes.  I am glad to be associated with Re-Markings and glad that Wystan is one of the people that Re-Markings admires. All good wishes for your Tenth Anniversary and a continued journey into another decade. – Anita Money (W.H. Auden’s Niece), London

Dear Dr. Ghosh,

This is a wonderful posting.  I was delighted to see it.  Please accept my heartiest congratulations on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of  Re-Markings.  This is an exceptional accomplishment indeed.   And please convey my and Joana's best wishes to Sunita-ji.  We both hope that the two of you and doing well. With warmest regards, Michael: Professor Michael Shapiro, Dept. of South Indian Language & Literature, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.

Dear Nibir,

Thanks for letting me know about the publication of the new Re-Markings. Congratulations on this anniversary! --Sharyn Skeeter, University of Bridgeport, U.S.A.

Dear Dr. Ghosh,

Congratulations! I think you deserve all the praise showered on you by all the reviewers and more. Thank you for sharing this with me. May God give you the strength to carry on for years to come. – Dr. Nafeesa Fathima Moinuddin, Fulbright Scholar 2002-03, University of Arizona, Tucson, U.S.A.

Dear Sir,

The comments from erudite scholars and exemplary critics kept me mesmerised for almost two hours. I would be over reaching myself in even trying to add a syllable to all the well deserved praise for Re-Markings and its chief editor. All I can say is - I concur with "what oft was thought but never so well expressed"! I am positive that there will be many many more anniversaries and every issue will be as good (if not better) than its previous one. May you continue to contribute meaningfully to our discipline. Congratulations to you and your committed team. - Regards, Neelanjana Pathak, Jabalpur

Respected Sir,

Thanks for providing the link. It is indeed an honour to be your acquaintance.

With warm regards, Suruchi Kalra, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra

Dear Dr. Ghosh

I have received the September issue of Re-Markings.To sustain publishing a standard academic journal for ten years is indeed  great and I believe, as Jonah Raskin does, that "much of the success of Re-Markings is due to the vision, dedication and courage" of Nibir Ghosh.The most interesting piece in this issue, as all readers would surely agree, is "How Nibir Ghosh Lost His Hair" !

I am sure Re-Markings will continue to serve the academic community of India for many more years to come.

Regards. J.N.Patnaik: Professor Emeritus, Ravenshaw University, Orissa

Dear Sir,
I received the latest issue of Re-Markings a  few days back. I am really glad to see that your journal has completed ten years of existence and you really deserve applaud for the successful run of the journal. The latest issue is again very interesting with a wide variety of articles. I particularly enjoyed your interview of Jonah Ruskin, How Nibir Ghosh Lost Hair and poems by Jayant Mahapatra. 

My heartiest congratulations to Re-Markings  and best wishes for future. Regards, Dr. Jaya Tripathi,I TS Engineering College, Gr. Noida.

Dear Sir,
I got the September issue of Remarkings. I congratulate you for completing

ten years of this wonderful journey. Sir, quite seriously I compared Re-Markings with some other journals published in India and I found most of them wanting in one way or the other.

I wish Re-Markings achieve new heights under your able guidance. --Jamsheed Ahmed, Department of English, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.