JAIPUR LITERATURE FESTIVAL: GOODBYE MR SHAKESPEARE 2010.
January 26, 2010.
By Uli Schmetzer
JAIPUR, India - In literature, as in cinema, the audience is mesmerized by celebrities rather then quality or art. Readers buy
books promoted by critics who are in the majority friends of the writer or publisher. In India, where books are amazingly cheap,
the 'literate' prefer to buy two cups of coffee rather then a new book......
…....At least that was the message, if there was a message, from the 5th Jaipur Literature Festival grandly advertised as “the
greatest literature show on earth� but as expected mainly a promo for established authors to show their face, promote their
books and be celebrated.
Much of the talking was around the table, in a college debate atmosphere. The panelists, all in the entertainment industry
where the motto is ‘live and let live’, supported each other just like film directors never knock down another directorâ
€™s creation, perhaps for fear he or she might strike back. Little literary criticism was practiced in a country which remains one
of the few in the world where the media continues its original role of holding to account the government – apparently to no
avail.
What became quickly clear is that writing these days is firmly in the hands of the literary establishment which, in India at least
and probably elsewhere, means the uper classes with one foot abroad and one foot in India, with an Oxford- Cambridge or
Harvard-MIT education. Well, that's at least how it looked in Jaipur, the reality might be somewhat different.
If you have a friend like Salmon Rushdie who writes two paragraphs to say your book is great you are assured of a best seller
even if a survey finds no one likes the book or considers it meritorious.
In many ways the 'democratic' festival, which allows free entry to anyone though not the slum dwellers and vagabonds at the
fringe of the Diggi Palace where the festivities took place, is a bit of a hoot: Like when Tina Brown talks about Princess Diana
stalking her lovers and complaining husband Prince Charles likes playing 'rocking horse' with his mistress and current wife
Camille but knew nothing about Diana's own 'geography.' Then there was the roarious laughters into microphones by William
Dalrymple, director of the festival, celebrating the convivial jesting. And some moderators obviously had not done their
homework.
Who was not puzzled when young writers hardly out of school complained from the podium about suffering ' writers block' and
told a spellbound audience (gawking at these new godesses of yet to be discovered literature) that making money was among
their priorities. Naturally all of them had been educated in the best schools abroad and lounged on the podium with the cross-
legged ease of ladies of leasure in India, looking for something glamorous to do, except playing in Bollywood movies.
One also puzzled at the admission of dynamic Indian magazine editor Tarun Tejpal that the written word has no longer any
clout. He said the establishment simply ignores it. His magazine published eye witness acounts of rape victims brutalized by
police. The police were never charged or investigated. Crime and the underworld, the festival heard from author Vikram
Chandra, have become so much part of daily life they are no longer underworld but real world and all around us. And both
readers and public have simply accepted our freedom has been sold (without a fight) just as John Kampfner writes in his
excellent book 'Freedom for Sale'.
Still the Festival never intended to make a political statement, otherwise Arunthati Roy would have been present. Kampfner
must have been an accident. He was quickly and unsuccessfully doused by Niall Ferguson, a Scotsman, a historian with a
stentorian voice who defended our successful neo-liberal societies, free market enterprise and privatisation as the core of our
freedoms. Not surpringly his intervention 'the ascent of money' was sponsored by investment bankers Goldman Sachs.
If anything the festival left the impression, supported by the survey, the possibility of a new Shakespeare appearing in print is
virtually zilch in the near future because one, publishers are profit driven and two, the old boys clubs sticks together and if
necessary can call for backup by a bit of corporate muscle – or shall we say – funds.
In fact, so the Tehelka survey found, readers want favorite authors to be glamorous, young, celebrated and easily readable. Bad
news for balding scribes threadbare with age and hiding their rising paunches inside far too tight designer jeans.
Of course the fault for this lack of new talent is not all with the greedy publishing houses but also with readers, many of whom
only buy books to keep on shelves. The magazine Tehelka found only four per cent of readers take a chance on a book not
critically acclaimed or made fashionable by some celebrity's praise.
This prompted a panel of publishers on the last days of the festival to admit profit (and risk) conscious publishers will simply not
imperil their investment for such a small percentage of readers willing to try something new.
Goodbye Mr Shakespeare 2010.
.
Uli Schmetzer is the author of 'Times of Terror' and 'Gaza' both
available on Amazonbooks.com
January 26, 2010.
By Uli Schmetzer
JAIPUR, India - In literature, as in cinema, the audience is mesmerized by celebrities rather then quality or art. Readers buy
books promoted by critics who are in the majority friends of the writer or publisher. In India, where books are amazingly cheap,
the 'literate' prefer to buy two cups of coffee rather then a new book......
…....At least that was the message, if there was a message, from the 5th Jaipur Literature Festival grandly advertised as “the
greatest literature show on earth� but as expected mainly a promo for established authors to show their face, promote their
books and be celebrated.
Much of the talking was around the table, in a college debate atmosphere. The panelists, all in the entertainment industry
where the motto is ‘live and let live’, supported each other just like film directors never knock down another directorâ
€™s creation, perhaps for fear he or she might strike back. Little literary criticism was practiced in a country which remains one
of the few in the world where the media continues its original role of holding to account the government – apparently to no
avail.
What became quickly clear is that writing these days is firmly in the hands of the literary establishment which, in India at least
and probably elsewhere, means the uper classes with one foot abroad and one foot in India, with an Oxford- Cambridge or
Harvard-MIT education. Well, that's at least how it looked in Jaipur, the reality might be somewhat different.
If you have a friend like Salmon Rushdie who writes two paragraphs to say your book is great you are assured of a best seller
even if a survey finds no one likes the book or considers it meritorious.
In many ways the 'democratic' festival, which allows free entry to anyone though not the slum dwellers and vagabonds at the
fringe of the Diggi Palace where the festivities took place, is a bit of a hoot: Like when Tina Brown talks about Princess Diana
stalking her lovers and complaining husband Prince Charles likes playing 'rocking horse' with his mistress and current wife
Camille but knew nothing about Diana's own 'geography.' Then there was the roarious laughters into microphones by William
Dalrymple, director of the festival, celebrating the convivial jesting. And some moderators obviously had not done their
homework.
Who was not puzzled when young writers hardly out of school complained from the podium about suffering ' writers block' and
told a spellbound audience (gawking at these new godesses of yet to be discovered literature) that making money was among
their priorities. Naturally all of them had been educated in the best schools abroad and lounged on the podium with the cross-
legged ease of ladies of leasure in India, looking for something glamorous to do, except playing in Bollywood movies.
One also puzzled at the admission of dynamic Indian magazine editor Tarun Tejpal that the written word has no longer any
clout. He said the establishment simply ignores it. His magazine published eye witness acounts of rape victims brutalized by
police. The police were never charged or investigated. Crime and the underworld, the festival heard from author Vikram
Chandra, have become so much part of daily life they are no longer underworld but real world and all around us. And both
readers and public have simply accepted our freedom has been sold (without a fight) just as John Kampfner writes in his
excellent book 'Freedom for Sale'.
Still the Festival never intended to make a political statement, otherwise Arunthati Roy would have been present. Kampfner
must have been an accident. He was quickly and unsuccessfully doused by Niall Ferguson, a Scotsman, a historian with a
stentorian voice who defended our successful neo-liberal societies, free market enterprise and privatisation as the core of our
freedoms. Not surpringly his intervention 'the ascent of money' was sponsored by investment bankers Goldman Sachs.
If anything the festival left the impression, supported by the survey, the possibility of a new Shakespeare appearing in print is
virtually zilch in the near future because one, publishers are profit driven and two, the old boys clubs sticks together and if
necessary can call for backup by a bit of corporate muscle – or shall we say – funds.
In fact, so the Tehelka survey found, readers want favorite authors to be glamorous, young, celebrated and easily readable. Bad
news for balding scribes threadbare with age and hiding their rising paunches inside far too tight designer jeans.
Of course the fault for this lack of new talent is not all with the greedy publishing houses but also with readers, many of whom
only buy books to keep on shelves. The magazine Tehelka found only four per cent of readers take a chance on a book not
critically acclaimed or made fashionable by some celebrity's praise.
This prompted a panel of publishers on the last days of the festival to admit profit (and risk) conscious publishers will simply not
imperil their investment for such a small percentage of readers willing to try something new.
Goodbye Mr Shakespeare 2010.
.
Uli Schmetzer is the author of 'Times of Terror' and 'Gaza' both
available on Amazonbooks.com