Author simulates masturbation on stage during Jaipur Literature Festival

In a fitting finale to the Jaipur Literature Festival, two of the event’s most anticipated sessions were held simultaneously — featuring best-selling authors Vikram Seth and Irvine Welsh (of Trainspotting fame).

While Seth’s session went off without any ‘untoward incident’, Welsh, on two occasions, while reading out from his forthcoming book Skagboys, held the microphone over his crotch and shook it suggestively, simulating a man masturbating. 

Skagboys, a prequel to Trainspotting, deals with the teenage years of the characters in the latter book. The extracts he was reading described a character masturbating. But none of the listeners seemed to be offended by the author’s graphic simulations. Many, in fact, giggled or laughed.

Asked about it later, Welsh said, “I think people can see theatrical gestures for what they are rather than as something subversive and threatening. It’s being stupid, basically, and I think people can see that. We have kind of moved on in some ways, in terms of the way things are. It is like when Trainspotting came out. It got banned in countries like Greece and Russia. But it’s hard to see that happening now.”

Welsh was on stage with poet Jeet Thayil. Unlike other sessions where panellists drank water while talking, the duo went about their chat sipping wine. And unlike other authors, Welsh read from his book standing, almost like a performance.

The extract rained foul language. Later, someone asked Welsh whether using the f-word so liberally didn’t dilute its efficacy in his works.

Welsh, however, spoke about whether the word was offensive. He said its offensiveness depended on usage. “I can say, ‘Look, it is a f--- beautiful day’, or ‘Meet my friend. He is a great c---’. I don’t mean it in a bad way.”