The writer was in Bangalore recently for the launch of his new book Smoke on the Water, or was it Waves in the Wind, ok, ok, it's River of Smoke, the second in his trilogy of books set in the 19th century (surely he should move with the times?) where he talks about great human migrations against a backdrop of the opium trade. Shobha De was also in town and had said in a talk the same day that she thought Ghosh would one day win the Nobel. It certainly won't be for Pronunciation. It is not, I repeat not, non-ka-lunce, Mr Ghosh, but, now say it after me, non-sha-lonce.
Oh, dear, it was all nearly as depressing as hearing chef Bobby Chinn lauding some great 'restauranteur' on his TLC show World Cafe Asia.
Loved the questions from the Bangalore audience, though. One young boy asked how Ghosh kept the sense of his characters since his books came so many years apart, another that the real question on everyone's mind was: What was Ghosh's own opium experience?
The author's responses were clever. Writing a trilogy kept his memory strong and was a great strategy against Alzheimer's, he said, and we all have had opiate experiences - from taking cough medicine to coming out of anaesthesia and feeling euphoric.
The clincher though was when a woman said one review of River of Smoke mentioned the use of a lot of terms that she couldn't understand herself, that were incomprehensible and funny, (possibly this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8559117/River-of-Smoke-by-Amitav-Ghosh-review.html )Ghosh replied that if she found it funny then it must not have been too incomprehensible. I fear the lady meant funny as in odd, but you can't deny the author's handling was masterly.
Ghosh saying he kept reviews at bay was a tad disingenuous, however. So he's writing for himself? He doesn't need to know what other people think of the books they're paying good money to buy and read? Sorry, we'll only take that from JD Salinger.
No comments:
Post a Comment