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Welcome to this edition of The Hindu on Books Newsletter. The longlist for the International Booker Prize 2024 has been announced, with Latin American writers and books representing Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Venezuela dominating the list of 13. The winner of the inaugural prize in 2005, the Albanian writer Ismael Kadare, has made the longlist too with A Dictator Calls (Harvill Secker), translated by John Hodgson, a novel about literature under tyranny. The others include feminist Argentinian writer Selva Almada’s Not a River (Charco Press), translated by Annie McDermott, a story from rural Argentina; the Venezuelan writer and editor Rodrigo Blanco Calderón’s Simpatía (Seven Stories Press UK), translated by Noel Hernández González and Daniel Hahn, and set in the time of a mass exodus of intellectuals from the country who are leaving their pets behind; Brazilian writer Itamar Vieira Junior’s Crooked Plow (Verso Fiction), translated by Johnny Lorenz, a story about poor subsistence farmers in Brazil’s Bahia hinterland; Gabriela Weiner’s Undiscovered (Pushkin Press), translated from the Spanish by Julia Sanches, which tells the story of colonialism through the life of one Peruvian family. Also on the longlist are Jenny Erpenbeck’s Kairos (Granta Books), translated from the German by Michael Hofmann, Ia Genberg’s The Details (Wildfire Books), translated from the Swedish by Kira Osefsson, Polish writer Urszula Honek’s White Nights (MTO Press), 13 interconnected stories from a village on the margins, translated by Kate Webster, Andrey Kurkov’s The Silver Bone (MacLehose Press), translated from the Russian by Boris Dralyuk, Jente Posthuma’s What I’d Rather Not Think About (Scribe UK), translated from the Dutch by Sarah Timmer Harvey. There are two Italian novels on the list, Domenico Starnone’s The House on Via Gemito (Europa Editions), translated by Oonagh Stransky, and Veronica Raimo’s Lost on Me (Virago), translated by Leah Janeczko. The best-selling and prize-winning Korean writer Hwang Sok-yong has been longlisted for Mater 2-10 (Scribe UK), translated by Sora Kim-Russell and Youngjae Josephine Bae. The chair of the jury, Eleanor Wachtel, told bookerprizes.com “...the longlisted books offer stunning evocations of place and time... voices that reflect original angles of observation. In compelling, at times lyrical modes of expression, they tell stories that give us insight into – among other things – the ways political power drives our lives.” The shortlist of six books will be announced on April 9 and the winner on May 21.
In reviews, we delve into the world of Malabar’s Theyyams, read about the making of Rupa, and poetry from Palestine. We talk to actor-author Manav Kaul about his new book, and more.
Books of the week
Pepita Seth’s coffee-table book, In God’s Mirror: The Theyyams of Malabar (Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd), offers a breathtaking view of the spiritual art of Theyyam. In his review, K.C. Vijaya Kumar writes that Theyyam, which serves an unrestrained belief in having a holy communion with the gods from the Hindu pantheon, is about colour, often bright reds and yellow, fire-torches made with palm leaves, the music of ‘chenda’, Kerala’s unique drums, and the synergy between the devotee and the man, who plays god. “Holding a believer’s hand, the Theyyam artiste listens to woes and requests, watches tears flow, and offers hope and blessings. This is catharsis and comfort....” Seth’s book, he says, attempts to understand this ancient form of worship in all its complexities. She also offers some beautiful lines on the region: “Malabar is a beautiful word, slipping off the tongue like a sighing whisper, murmuring of mystery and shadows, suggesting somewhere unknown and unreachable.” Her constant travels within Malabar, across Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod districts, “throw up a macro-level analysis of diverse Theyyams, including a rare one in which a woman dons the attire and invokes the divine spirit.”
In Never Out of Print: The Rupa Story (Rupa), Rajen Mehra offers readers a ringside view of the making of one of India’s longest-running publishing houses, Rupa. With charming personal anecdotes and a light touch, Mehra writes about the journey which began with his granduncle Daudayal Mehra impressing a Scottish book sales representative with his selling (hosiery) skills. In his review, Aditya Mani Jha says that the first half of the book covers the company’s entrepreneurial trajectory and the second half is filled with celebrity anecdotes, Salman Rushdie, Satyajit Ray et al. “Never Out of Print is a fast and engaging read, plus a valuable record of publishing history in India. If you’re associated with the industry in any way, you should definitely read this. And even if you aren’t you’ll find plenty to keep you happy here.”
Since 1967, Israel has uprooted around a million olive trees in Palestinian areas, alongside an unprecedented number of human lives. In an essay on Palestinian poetry, Paridhi Badgotri writes that the olive trees are revered and not only form the backbone of the Palestinian economy but also hold deep cultural significance in Palestinian heritage. Olive trees serve as living chronicles of Palestine and are passed down through generations as family heirlooms. Palestinian poetry intricately maps the multifaceted meaning of olive trees. In one poem (‘The Earth is Closing on Us’, Mahmoud Darwish writes, “We will die here, here in the last passage./Here and here, our blood will plant its olive tree.” The relationship between Palestinians and olive trees, says Badgotri, is nothing less than a blood relation.”
Spotlight
In Manav Kaul’s new book, Under the Night Jasmine (Penguin), translated from Hindi by Vaibhav Sharma, the story around the protagonist, Rohit, a struggling writer, unfolds in the backdrop of the pandemic. In an interview with Takshi Mehta, Kaul says his stories are drawn from reality but filtered through the lens of fiction. Asked whether like his protagonist he feels pain fuels creativity, Kaul says: “I used to believe this, but later I realised every art form is an extension of your life, so the life you are living is important. I started writing a lot because I was living peacefully. It’s happiness that stimulates amazing work. I wrote a story about death, ‘Titli’, when I was the happiest.”
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- Sugata Bose’s Asia After Europe (Harvard University Press) examines early intimations of Asian solidarity and universalism forged and fractured through phases of poverty and prosperity, among elites and common people. Bose reflects on the changing balance of global power during the long 20th century between Asia and Euro-America by “painting a portrait of an age.”
- The Battle for Sabarimala (Oxford University Press) by Deepa Das Acevedo tells the story of one of contemporary India’s long running struggle over women’s access to the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala. In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that the temple, which had traditionally excluded women aged 10 to 50, had to open its doors to all Hindus, leading to protests. Das Acevedo tells a multifaceted narrative about the ‘ban on women’.
- Haritha Savithri’s Zin (Penguin) tells the story of Seetha, an Indian national who arrives in Turkey in search of her Kurdish lover. Before long, she finds herself caught in the midst of a battle between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan movement.
- In She and I (Speaking Tiger) by Imayam, translated by D. Venkataramanan, the narrator becomes obsessed with a widow who has recently moved to the village with her daughters. A jobless drifter low on self-esteem, he drags Kamala down in a ploy that may destroy both of them.
