Khushwant Singh doesn't like RK

From Outlook India

Naipaul criticised the current boom in Indian writing by saying, "I know of no literature in the history of the world which has been created for foreign readership, foreign publishers, foreign critics."

Now Kushwant Singh has his dig. He says of the three pioneers of Indian writers in English: Mulk Raj Anand was a Marxist propagandist, Raja Rao turned ... to exploiting the mystical and spiritual aspects of India and R.K. Narayan (was) a simple storyteller. "... none of his novels or stories has the ingredients I consider integral to fiction: sex, violence or pithy turns of phrases." (Narayan remains to this day the most widely read Indian.)

Kushwant Singh's top twelve are:

1. A house for Mr Biswas -- VS Naipaul
2. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie
3. A Suitable Boy -- Vikram Seth
4. Shadow Lines -- Amitabh Ghosh
5. Cuckold -- Kiran Nagarkar
6. The God of Small Things -- Arundhati Roy
7. Interpreter of Maladies -- Jhumpa Lahiri
8. The Trotter-Nama: A Chronicle -- I Allan Sealy
9. Chinnery's Hotel -- Jaysinh Birjepatil
10. The Hero's Walk -- Anita Rau Badami
11. Filming:a love story -- Tabish Khair
12. The Assasin's Song -- MG Vassanji
    

Full story: http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20070820&fname=OKhushwant+Singh+%28F%29&sid=1

Indonesia book burning

From the Sydney Morning Herald

At least 30,000 Indonesian school history textbooks of the 1965 coup attempt and slaughter of more than 500,000 alleged communists have been burned in Indonesia since March this year after the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono banned several texts implicating the military in the events.

Publishers, academics and activists are planning a constitutional challenge against the ban.

"We have failed to deal with our past," says Mr Nababan, executive director of the Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Studies. "We have to find out the truth otherwise we have no capacity to heal the wounds."

After the resignation of President Suharto in 1998, the national school curriculum was revised and the new texts included. The ban on the books, which question claims that the Communist Party was solely responsible for the coup, was imposed recently following pressure from the military, ultra-nationalists and fundamentalist Muslims. A criminal investigation into the books' authors was also ordered.

Franz Magnis-Suseno of the Driyarkara School of Philosophy says, "The book burnings show us (the government) is incapable of dealing with events intellectually."

Tell that to the Malaysian members of parliament.

Full story: http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/indonesian-academics-fight-burning-of-books-on-1965-coup/2007/08/08/1186530448353.html

Who is Jane Austen?

A Reuters report

Few would be surprised at a reaction like that in Malaysia. But in the UK?

David Lassman was having difficulty getting his own novel published. After repeated rejection, he decided on an experiment. He laboriously typed chapters from three of her books, keeping everything the same as the original but changing the names of characters and places. First he sent Northanger Abbey, renamed Susan, and was told by various publishers that the book was not suitable for their current lists. then he sent Persuasion. Again the same results. Then, finally, he sent Pride and Prejudice, renamed First Impressions with Mr Bennet becoming Mr Barnett and Netherfield becoming Weatherfield (from TV soap Coronation Street), to 18 publishers.

The following lines opened the plagiarised version:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

"My dear Mr Barnett," said his lady to him one day, "have you heard that Weatherfield Manor is let at last?"

(If you are old enough), dig out that old school literature copy of Jane Austen, its probably in one of those cardboard boxes in the storage space under the stairs, take it outside the house and dust it, open the first page and see if you can spot the difference.

Full story:
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSL1941223720070719

Parents' bedtime story problem

From The Guardian

The survey of 1,000 parents with children aged five to 10 in Britain, done by Learndierect, found that 30% of parents had problems helping their children with maths and that one in five had difficulties with English homework. According to the survey 12% of parents said they struggled to understand books they read to their children. It is estimated that there are 26 million adults, in UK, who struggle with English or maths.

The survey said one in 10 parents struggled even to understand the bedtime stories they read to their children, and 23% skipped passages they could not read or invented words to get to the end of a sentence.

And guess what: reading stories is, actually, enjoying a renaissance in the UK. 73% of families prefer reading it to playing in the park or watching TV.

Shocking as it sounds, is this really surprising? A recent University of Manchester study covering five developed countries showed reading in the Anglophone countries, UK and the US, to be the lowest. (Explains a lot, does it not?) The French spend three times as much as the Brits and the Americans reading books, and the Dutch and the Norwegians twice as much. But still, all is not lost. The situation is improving (unfortunately too slow for many.)

On a more positive note, the report says: Learndirect's research found that, on average, parents read to their children four times a week for 20 minutes, which Dr Spungin said was encouraging.

Full story: http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2133285,00.html

Wonder what the rate is in Malaysia. How many parents read at all? How many teachers (even those at tertiary level) read anything other than the prescribed text? How many employees of the various libraries (including the national library, starting with the Director General) read?

Generally, there are three types of parents who seek advice from us at Silverfish Books:

The first type is upset that their child spends all the time playing computer games or watching television. We normally advice them that they (the parents) should leave some of their own books lying around. Children do not like reading to be stuffed down their throats, they are curious animals and will normally want to read things their parents are reading (particularly if they think it is forbidden). Then we ask what books they themselves read. The answer comes back that they don't. And we feel like repeating the Malay proverb of a crab wanting to teach its kid to walk straight.

The second type is very honest. They don't read because they never had the opportunity when they were young. But they don't want their children to grow up like them. So they seek advice on the type of books their mini children's library should contain. (There is one lady with a two year old who already has his favourite books.)

The third type of parent reads, and had have children who devour books. They ask us for advice on developing that reading habit and pointing them in new directions.

Germans come to grip with their history

A Reuters report.

Since the end of World War Two, Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf has not been printed nor made available in Germany (is it banned in that country?) although the book, which translates as My Struggle, has been published in most countries, including Israel, and is available online.

In Germany, '... only purchasers who can prove an academic purpose may secure a copy of Mein Kampf. Otherwise, it is not available in Germany, as the copyright holder, the state of Bavaria, refuses to authorize the printing of new copies'.

Hitler dictated the book whilst in prison in Bavaria in 1923, which outlines a doctrine of German racial supremacy. Mein Kamph was published in Germany in 1925. It became a standard text in German schools after Hitler won power in 1933.

Now for the first time since World War Two, there is a call for the reprint of that most 'sensitive' of all books, which many Germans you speak to now hope never existed, by Professor Horst Moeller, director of the Munich Institute of Contemporary History. (You can tell a Geman that his mother is a feminine dog, but never ever mention this thing. It is worse, much worse, than a horribly visible tumour in the most embarrassing parts of his body. We respond with polite silence, but often we want to say, 'We know it was horrible what happenned, but, hey, pass the guilt onto us.')

Professor Horst Moeller argues that 'the existing publishing ban gives the book a dangerous mystique.' The copyright is held by the state of Bavaria, which refuses to authorize the printing of new copies. The copyright, however, expires in 2015, after which anyone will be able to
publish the book. The good professor fears that when that happens, 'You can be sure it will be sold as a sensation.' He calls for the printing of a new annotated academic edition as soon as possible with a critical commentary on the text.

Not surprisingly, Jewish groups object, saying that the book would offend Holocaust survivors and send the wrong signal about Germany. Professor Salomon Korn, the vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany says, "The danger I see is that there could be a misunderstanding ... He is also worried that World War Two survivors might be offended ...

Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070727/wl_nm/germany_hitler_book_dc