Drawing from her experience, a feminist and fabulist discusses the process of crafting stories and a thing or two about life
Pic Courtesy/ SHARON WALLACE PHOTOGRAPHY
Mumbai-born poet Suniti Namjoshi’s writing appealed to us for its pleasing melancholy. Suki — that’s the book we first read, and couldn’t stop thinking of her intuitive connection with her Super Cat. Through negotiating the loss of her cat, the author shares her learnings about losing those whom we dearly love. But the octogenarian is better known as an active agent of feminism and the gay movement. Namjoshi’s work is characterised by humour and satire. And almost accidentally, they hoist the messy beauty of our lives.
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Ask her about that quality in her fables and poems and she says, “Sometimes, I am inclined to agree with author Jonathan Swift, when he holds up a mirror and shows us Yahoos. But perhaps the satirist — whether raging or mocking gently — only does so because human beings could be so much more — as they sometimes are — and yet can make such an appalling mess of things. If that has come through in my work, then I am glad of it.” The author feels that being angry about narratives dominated by cismen and their idea of minority identities doesn’t help. “What helps is to have readers, and a context in which it [the text] is read in the way it should be.” Namjoshi adds that a poem or a fable exists between the writing and the reading. Trying to make sure that it’s read in the way one would like it to be read is a technical problem.
Does the lesbian fabulist think that fables can create a world with lesser divides? “You can’t entirely control how a fable turns out — at least, I can’t. I suspect that the form itself can be used for any message but I doubt that a fabulist would produce a fable that contradicts their thoughts.” She reminds contemporary authors that writing is a contradictory discipline. One must believe in oneself to bear rejection, and also learn to forget oneself to concentrate on the craft.
Log on to: penguin.co.in and zubaanbooks.com for her titles, The Love Affair and Snow White and Rose Green
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