Granta 112: Paksitan

If the most poignant image of the Partition of 1947 is sought in fiction, one will have to turn to Saadat Hasan Manto. Specifically to Bishen Singh, the “lunatic” Sikh in Manto’s Toba Tek Singh, who, failing to figure out whether his native village was in India or Pakistan, refuses to budge from the no-man’s-land between the two countries. We are now 63 years removed from that episode of blood and pain, and reading Granta’s latest Pakistan issue, a collection of short stories, essays, poems and images from mostly Pakistani writers and artists, one realises that the intellectual moorings have also shifted from a question of where-is-home to what-is-home.

Granta 112: Pakistan; Rs599; pp 288

That question of Pakistani identity is complicated not just because of its ethnic or cultural diversity, but also because the country thrives in popular perception through a series of negative associations. For India, it’s the arch adversary with whom it had to fight three wars; for America, it’s a cauldron of jihadi fanaticism that has suddenly intruded into the consciousness; for the rest, it’s a country whose democracy is periodically undermined by direct or proxy military intervention.

Granta’s collection — its ornate cover designed by artist Islam Gull with the same industrial paints used to decorate trucks — tries to represent some of the vibrant potency in contemporary Pakistani society, to sift through all the violence and anger and find some meaning or even traces of humanity in the chaos, to critique its own society while also shredding apart America’s foreign policy that has significantly contributed to the mess.

Full review here Hindustan Times

Pakistan: Granta, Edited by John Freeman

When Granta magazine brought out a special India edition to mark the nation's "Golden Jubilee" year in 1997, the collection appeared to have a genuine sense of celebration, of a nation fighting to free itself from the ghost of colonial rule.

More than a decade later, Granta has turned its attention to India's beleaguered, bullet-riddled neighbour, Pakistan. What emerges is a land clouded in darkness, perhaps unsurprisingly, given that Pakistan is, 63-years after its birth, bent double with political strife, religious fundamentalism and rising militarism, when even its otherwise adored cricket team is mired in shame.

John Freeman, editor of the magazine, followed serendipitous, word-of-mouth leads and suggestions from the likes of the author, Patrick French to The Wire writer, Richard Price, to commission the 18 featured pieces. He gave the writers an open, unboundaried brief. What he received was some exquisitely-crafted pieces aboutdoomed love, teen romance, immigrant nostalgia. More often than not, however, the writing is framed within the unforgiving narratives of political repression, internecine savagery, and terror that overwhelm this collection.

Full review here Independent

Rushdie to write memories of his life under threat

Famed Indian-origin controversial writer Salman Rushdie has started to pen down memories of his life under threat from Islamic radicals, apparently feeling that the danger to him may have abated. Rushdie has began to write about what he calls his life's lost chapter, the years he spent in hiding from the death fatwa issued against him by the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

It was on Valentine's Day in 1989 that Khomeini called for the death of everyone involved in the publication of Rushdie's fourth novel 'The Satanic Verses', which he said was blasphemous.

This week, at an event organised by the literary magazine Granta, 63-year-old Rushdie confirmed that the moment to write about his life in mufti had arrived. "I am writing it now," he said. "I found it kind of annoying that other people kept offering versions of it that were all bulls..."

During those critical years, Rushdie is believed to have lived in 30 different locations but apart from occasional last-minute appearance at literary gatherings, dinners and one on stage at Wembley Stadium during a U2 gig, his exact whereabouts and activities for most of that time remain a mystery.

He was guarded round the clock by Special Branch officers at an estimated cost of 11 million pounds. British bookshops were bombed.

Full report here Indian Express

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Give more space to creative writing

First Proof: The Penguin Book of New Writing from India-5 is an anthology of Indian writing in English, with a few, very few, translated works. The aim is to publish the best new writing from India, with first-time writers showcased, something on the lines of Granta, perhaps. It is unusual in that it does not give credit to an editor. (One does wonder how it got compiled if no editor was involved). The contributors are distinguished persons from various fields though it is doubtful whether these are the first published pieces by them, as claimed.

The subject matter, chosen by the authors, especially in the non-fiction segment, are varied too.  They range from a description of the normal middle-class life led by a woman who is a prostitute by profession, by Bishakha Datta, to a fishing expedition that fails in its primary aim by Samanth Subramaniam. Aditya Sinha talks of how the attitude towards different types of sexuality change, and yet don’t change, over time. Shilpa Phadke and her co-authors discuss the availability or otherwise of a public place for women. Other contributors in the non-fiction line up include Krupakar and Senani narrating a real-life kidnapping, Rita Kothari on the language of Kutch, Vamsi Juluri on violence and nonviolence, and Satnam speaking of the daily life of guerrillas.

Full report here New Indian Express