While panel moderator Rana Dasgupta proposed that the geopolitical lines that had divided literature into Western and non-Western zones were gradually eroding, his point was disputed by the gathered writers.
The final session of the second day of the festival held all the ingredients for a riveting discussion — a bunch of celebrated authors, including Orhan Pamuk, Kiran Desai and Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichi, and the weighty subject of writers navigating the spaces between a Western audience and non-Western words.
But it wasn’t long before the session descended into an airing of literary woes, even as author and panel moderator Rana Dasgupta tried to inject some cheer into the proceedings.
While Dasgupta proposed that the geopolitical lines that had divided literature into Western and non-Western zones were gradually eroding, his point was disputed by the gathered writers.
“It is the polite thing to say that we’re all the same everywhere,’ said Adichi. “But a Nigerian reader will have a completely different understanding of my book than an American one.”
Adichi also elaborated on the definitions of a ‘global’ writer and globalisation. “American writers are perhaps the most global of all. They are read all over the world. Why and how can we prescribe to them a narrower definition than that of a non-Western writer?” Adichi refused to acknowledge the concept of a globalisation that wasn’t actively improving and connecting everyone’s lives. “I don’t like to complain,” snapped the writer in conclusion, leading Kiran Desai to say laughingly, “But it’s so much fun to complain”.
Kiran Desai spoke of the demand for a specific type of fiction from India - whether it was the pashmina shawl motif, or the literary device of an arranged marriage. “I don’t know why writers become diplomats once they have written their books. When asked questions like, ‘what do you think about the state of the Kashmir conflict, they say, ‘It’s not my place to comment on such things,’” she said.
Pamuk spoke of his frustration at being slotted according to his nationality, saying, “I get very angry when a critic reads my writing and says, this is a Turkish writer who has a great understanding of Turkish love. My writing shouldn’t be limited to my place of origin.”
Novelist and fiction editor of Harvard Review Nam Le noted wryly that feelings of dispossession and marginalisation were no longer exclusive to a non-Western writer. “This is one thing I love about the literary world - everyone loves feeling hurt. I imagine
that even as we speak, there is a white, male, middle-aged writer sitting in Brooklyn complaining about being sidelined by foreign exotica,” he said to titters from the crowd.
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