Friday, June 15, 2007

The quibble over Man Asia

From Tahelka.com

The first prize has not been awarded yet and you would have probably heard that Nury Vittachi, co-founder of the Hong Kong International Literary Festival and initiator of the prize, has been reportedly sacked from the festival's board due to his 'vociferous' opposition at the way the judges have been chosen - while the judges include men and women of Asian origin living in the West, few are Asia-bred and none live in Asia.

Another quibble: large parts of Asia have been excluded from the prize - Mongolia, Iran, the former Soviet republics and the Middle East have been excluded from the list. The comments by Peter Gordon, head of the Hong Kong International Literary Festival was quoted in the report: "Lines need to be drawn somewhere. If West Asia were included, wherever one draws the line - for example at the Red Sea - it would go through the middle of the Arabic-speaking world. It didn't make sense to have Jordan but not Egypt. As for the Central Asian countries, their literary traditions had ties to the Russian literary tradition and the current geopolitical borders might also cut across literary borders. Russia itself is geographically, and to some extent ethnically, as much Asian as European. We felt that a strict adherence to geography led to more inconsistencies than a partial adherence would."

Fascinating doublespeak! (You had a committee to draw that up, didn't you?! Now, for your next assignment, define a banana.)

Something has been bottled up for years, but I think there is a need for it to be said. We are too polite. 'Thou shall not criticise the efforts of others' is a religiously held commandment in the arts and literature, though bitching and backbiting is allowed. I suspect I am going to make myself enormously unpopular in certain circles. But Gordon's statement above requires some response.

I have never been to the Hong Kong Festival. Actually, I must confess, I have been avoiding it, especially after hearing comments from a prominent journalist who lived a major part of his life there. When asked (this was some years ago), he dismissed it as 'silly expatriate angst'. I was in Ubud for the first festival and I realised what he meant. An American writer, whom I had met earlier at the KL Fest, said to me, "Raman, tell me, am I the only one feeling out of place here?" This same sentiment was also reflected by another English couple (from Malaysia). I noticed it the first time I entered the door but I was too polite to say anything. It was like being invited to a function at a private club: sorry your father can't come in because ... er ... he is wearing a dhoti. (There is another story about the treatment of Indonesian writers during that festival but it is too distasteful to be repeated in print here, even for me.)

I am sure there are wonderful people behind Hong Kong and Ubud, and I have met some of them. But obviously there are some people who don't 'get it'. Hong Kong is China. Bali is Indonesia. And Mongolia is in Asia. Get use to it.

But I do like the concept of the Man Asia prize itself, though. All entries must have been previously unpublished in English. That should eliminate all that lobbying and campaigning by publishers, not to mention names of the usual suspects. Let's hope this award throws up some interesting ones.

By the way, Chinua Achebe has won the Man Booker International prize against a bunch of the usual suspects.

Full story: http://www.tehelka.com/story_main31.asp?filename=hub160607The_babel.asp

3 comments:

  1. the kl lit festivals haven't been at all cliquish and i think that (partic. with the second one) ordinary readers having a taste of the pleasure of meeting an interacting with writers will stimulate more interest in going to larger festivals further afield.

    let's hope more asian readers 9amnd partic malaysians) make it to ubud this year. it does take time to overcome the mindset that literary festivals are expat affairs but this should change. (air asia of course makes a very cheap flight possible too- hurray)

    after all it shouldn't matter what colour your skin is when you write a book and it shouldn't matter what colour your skin is when you read it. right??

    malaysian authors are also represented at the festival and deserve cheering on: tan twan eng, anne lee, farish noor and
    kam raslan are representing the country

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  2. Judging the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) by Raman's brusque comments here (or the fledgling literary prize for that matter) wouldn't be too far off from judging the Kuala Lumpur International Literary Festival (KLILF) from hearing Holger Warnk's comments on the gala dinner hosted by Najib.

    As there is more to the Malaysian literary scene than sycophantic pantun for upper echelons of government, there is a lot more to Ubud than a bunch of expats with a big interest in literature from this region.

    UWRF has tailored programs for children, teens, aspiring writers, and those who come to exchange ideas. I suggest you see it for yourself. Like Dina Zaman did last year, before she launched 'I am Muslim' with SilverFish.

    You might even get to see Kam Raslan, who's wit is threatening to bring Malaya (and not Arabia) back into the identification of being Malay with readings from 'Confessions of an Old Boy' at this year's festival.

    While (unlike most Indonesian participants) Dina and Kam don't need translation, Ubud makes an effort to bridge this gap by offering translations that deliver insight to unique perspectives from this region. There are sessions in Balinese and Indonesian: not translated when it's a local discourse; and translated into English when engaging with an international audience. I look forward to attending a KLILF that acknowledges writing in Bahasa Melayu.

    Friction comes less with identity than identification. At the inaugural UWRF, for a reason I can't understand, Raman chose to identify with those feeling out of place.

    Sure, we didn't strike it right the first time. We hadn't counted on needing so much translation and as a volunteer translator, I was run off my feet that first year. Since then, however, we've prepared well in advance to make all our guests feel more comfortable by bridging the language barrier.

    But then again.... a bridge is but a structure... It doesn't guarantee crossing... or safe passage to understanding. That journey is for you to choose, when the time comes.

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  3. Anonymous5:28 PM

    Hi

    Personally I thouroughly enjoyed the festival.It was stimulating and unpretentious and was a meeting point of intelligent sensible, people with an interest in books and reading .What more can one ask for? Its easy to critique but oh so difficult to get anything off the ground these days, I for one am thankfull for small mercies.. so hats off to Siverfish/Ramman and his troop of likeminded friends.

    Some of you might be interested in attending the 2008 Galle Lit fest in Sri Lanka - it will take place from 16th – 20th January in & around the historic city of Galle-

    Its a cross between Malacca and Goa and oh so much more - Sinbad the sailor, Marco Polo, Admiral Cheng Ho, the Portuguese, the Dutch , the Arabs and now a new breed of expatriate residents have helped build a mystique to this place that it is now seen as the Riviera of the Subcontinent.

    Above all it has an absolutely scenic setting. Last years fest from all accounts was quite extraordinary and was voted the best fest in the world by Harpers Bazaar (This is the anomaly of a land that is having the longest standing and bloodiest civil conflict in modern history ,but fear not thats in the North of the country this is deep South.)

    To date the organizers claim the following authors have expressed an interest in attending: Shyam Selvadurai, Rohinton Mistry, Vikram Seth, Jung Chang, John Julius Norwich, Simon Winchester, Salman Rushdie, Christopher Ondaatje, Shobhaa De, and Anita and Kiran Desai.
    check it out...

    http://www.galleliteraryfestival.com/galle.htm


    http://www.galleliteraryfestival.com/press/Six%20of%20the%20best%20Literary%20Festivals,%20Harpers%20UK%20Feb%20200

    Shehara

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