A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle: The Violent Irish Gump

 The seed of every revolution germinates on the ground of exploitation. It grows and spreads itself initially by synthesising the lifeblood of its foot soldiers—idealists and martyrs. But eventually it has to turn its roots deep into the same ground, resulting in another turn of the same vicious cycle of corruption and power dominance. These were my thoughts after reading A Star Called Henry, a historical fiction novel written by the Irish novelist Roddy Doyle.

A Star Called Henry is based on the Irish War of Independence. It begins with the birth of Henry Smart, a fictional hero of the revolution, as the son of a one-legged bouncer who is also an assassin. After surviving a poor and depraved childhood in which he witnesses a sibling's death, his mother's descent into madness, and his father's abscondence, he ends up participating in the Easter Revolution when he is fourteen. The novel follows him for six more years of functioning as a legendary foot soldier for the revolution, travelling in the interiors of Ireland, training new recruits, and participating in several murders of policemen and spies, armed with his father's wooden leg.

While we witness the ascent and eventual descent of Henry Smart, we get to observe closely several historical events and personalities associated with the Irish War of Independence. The novel takes a narrative path similar to Forrest Gump, where history is revisited through the eyes of a fictional protagonist. Like Forrest Gump, it also makes its protagonist emotionally detached from the events in which he actively participates. Another attempt that I can recount that tries a similar approach is the Malayalam movie Dany, whose protagonist, a saxophone player, played by a brilliant Mammootty, stumbles through his life when important political events rewrite history around him.

Though the book has its plot rooted in real events and personalities, the narrative takes a route that's out of the ordinary. Roddy Doyle takes the inherent violence and sex in the plot and then amplifies it to a level that makes it seem contrived. Though the book has a Dickensian beginning, with adolescent Henry and his siblings trying to survive a ruthless Dublin, we can observe a thread of magical realism in the portrayal of his one-legged father, who has an affinity for the water systems of the city and a peculiar weapon of choice—his wooden leg.

But while portraying Henry's participation in the Easter Revolution, the author uses a realist tone when describing men in war and the associated violence. Then strikes a jolting shift of distorted reality, which pulls the rug under the feet of the reader, and from then on, the narrative races along with the same madcap energy. Though the book uses magical realism, it doesn't bother to attain the sophistication of Rushdie or the balance of Marquez. Instead, it seems more related to a Tarantino movie that applies an elevated degree of mayhem and anarchy to put its point forward, and its protagonist resembles a classic dilemma-inflicted superhero.

An important symbol that characterises Henry Smart is the wooden leg that he inherited from his father, who is also named Henry Smart. He also inherited the deep knowledge of the system of water bodies—sewages, drains, and rivers—under Dublin, which he has used to his advantage several times. I feel that using the same name for father and son, indicating continuity in their life stories, is a crudely simple but effective technique to establish it strongly from the outset. While the father, being a hired killer, murders indiscriminately, the son believes that by working with the revolutionaries, he is doing it for a cause. When that belief shatters, it results in him abandoning his inheritance.

A Star Called Henry is a historical novel that uses its historic elements to explore the fate of revolutions. The novel amplifies its components of violence and sex to portray a distorted and contrived state of reality. Headlined by a complex protagonist who seems emotionally detached from the proceedings for most of the time and employing a swift narrative, it is a fulfilling reading experience.

Book Review: Happy by Celina Baljeet Basra

 

“Ha. Yes. I know. You imagine too much, Happy Singh. Think too much. Attach too much meaning to things.”

Happy Singh, from the Indian side of Punjab, is a slightly delusional, over-imaginative young man who aspires big. A fan of Godard, he decides to try his luck in Europe, moving away from his family farm, which is about to be engulfed by Wonderland, an amusement park conglomerate. Lured by a dubious travel agent, Happy reaches Italy, surviving a nightmarish journey through illegal means, and has to work in the Italian food industry as an irregolari, the undocumented. As his dreams and bleak reality are bound by an eventual course of collision, will Happy jolt out of his own imaginative Wonderland and escape on time?

Happy is the debut novel of Celina Baljeet Basra, a Berlin-based writer and cultural worker, and it explores illegal global migration and the exploitation of immigrant labour in first-world countries. Instead of tackling the serious and urgent subject in a heavy-handed manner, the writer uses a postmodern approach and prefers a 'happy' and cheerful depiction of a protagonist who is cruising his way to certain disillusionment. I received an advance copy of the novel from its publisher, Astra Publishing House, through Netgalley in exchange for feedback.

The cover page of the novel sets its tone with a bright and cheerful yellow colour and a prominent, distorted happy face on it. The story is predominantly narrated in first person by the protagonist, and the narrative also contains several snippets of his autobiographical writings, fictional stories, poems, and imaginary interviews. The plot is very loose and has a polymorphous, non-linear structure. It takes us closely inside the psychology of a person who has aspirations but is too naive and complacent in his ways to attain his goals.

Among the Indian states, Punjab and Kerala might have the highest number of migrant populations in percentages (Kerala finds a single mention in the book as a communist bastion). Millions of Punajbis work outside of India, especially in Europe, the US, and Canada. Several sectors in these countries depend on immigrants for survival, and this demand has resulted in several criminal syndicates luring young people in Punjab to illegally migrate through land using dangerous routes. It seems our Happy has also fallen into their trap. It is heartbreaking to see him innocently asking what the menu would be on his flight, ignorant of the circuitous and torturous route that he has to endure to reach his dream destination.

The illegal immigrants are made to work in dangerous conditions for a pittance, and their chances for any progress in their prospects are virtually zero. But these immigrants try to make the best of what's available. In Happy's delusions, the writer shows us the strange coping mechanism employed by them, the eternal hope that one day the sun will shine on them and the future will be bright. Happy is a novel about the aspirations of the migrating populace, who are ready to suffer subhuman situations for a chance to acquire a brighter future, and about how the powerful exploit them.

ഒരു വായനശാലാ വിപ്ലവം: സമൂഹ മനസ്സാക്ഷിക്ക് എതിരെ

 ഒരു സുഹൃത്ത് മറ്റൊരു സുഹൃത്തിന് വായിക്കാൻ കൊടുത്ത പുസ്തകം, അവിചാരിതമായ മഴയുടെ ചതിയിലൂടെ കൈയിൽ പെട്ടു. തിരിച്ചു കൊടുക്കുന്നതിന് മുമ്പെ വായിച്ചേക്കാം എന്നു കരുതിയാണ് തുറന്നത്. സാധാരണ ചെറുകഥാ സമാഹാരങ്ങൾ ഒറ്റയിരിപ്പിന് വായിക്കാൻ സാധിക്കാറില്ല. ഒരു കഥയിൽ നിന്നു മറ്റൊന്നിലേക്കു കടക്കുമ്പോൾ മനസ്സ് ഒന്ന് പൊരുത്തപ്പെടാൻ കുറച്ച് സമയം എടുക്കും. എന്നാൽ ഈ പുസ്തകം രാത്രി വൈകുന്നതു വരെ ഇരുന്നു (കിടന്നും) വായിച്ചിട്ടേ താഴെ വെക്കാൻ കഴിഞ്ഞുള്ളൂ. 

യമ എഴുതിയ ഒരു വായനശാലാ വിപ്ലവം ഏഴു കഥകൾ അടങ്ങിയ പുസ്തകമാണ്. ഒരു കഥയൊഴിച്ച് എല്ലാം സ്ത്രീ കേന്ദ്രീകൃതം. എന്നാൽ സാധാരണ കണ്ടുവരുന്ന അച്ചുവാർപ്പുകൾക്ക് ഒപ്പിച്ചുള്ള കഥാപാത്രസൃഷ്ടി പ്രതീക്ഷിക്കരുത്. യമയുടെ സ്ത്രീകൾ ജീവനുള്ളവരാണ്. സമൂഹത്തിൽ കഷ്ടതകളോടെ ജീവിക്കുകയും ആ ജീവിതത്തെ പുണരുകയും എന്നാൽ അതേ സമൂഹത്തോട് കലാപം നടത്തുകയും ചെയ്യുന്നവർ. 

മേൽപ്പറഞ്ഞതിൽ ഒരു വൈരുദ്ധ്യമില്ലേ?അക്കാണുന്ന വൈരുദ്ധ്യമാണ്, ഈ കഥകളിൽ കഥാകാരി ഒളിച്ചു കടത്തുന്ന ബ്ലാക്ക് കോമഡി. ഇതിലെ കഥാപാത്രങ്ങളുടെ കലാപങ്ങൾ സമൂഹത്തിന് എന്തെങ്കിലും മാറ്റം ഉണ്ടാക്കാൻ പര്യാപ്തമായേക്കില്ല. മാറ്റി നിർത്തപ്പെട്ടവരായ തങ്ങളെ സമൂഹം എപ്പോഴെങ്കിലും മാടി വിളിക്കുന്നത് ചൂഷണത്തിനായാണ് എന്നു നല്ല ബോദ്ധ്യം അവർക്കുണ്ട്. അവരുടെ അതിജീവനത്തിന് അത് ആവശ്യമാണെന്നും അവർക്കറിയാം. അതുൾക്കൊണ്ട് അവർ നടത്തുന്ന വിപ്ലവമാണ് ഇതിലെ കഥാ തന്തുക്കൾ. ഒളി മങ്ങിയ അസ്തിത്വങ്ങൾക്ക് ഒരു പുതു അർത്ഥം തേടാൻ അത് അവരെ പ്രേരിപ്പിക്കുന്നു. 

സമൂഹത്തിന്റെ അരികുകളിലൂടെ ജീവിച്ചുപോകുന്നവരുടെ ചിത്രീകരണം കഥാകാരി പൂർത്തിയാക്കുന്നത് ഏറ്റവും രൂക്ഷമായ കടും വർണ്ണങ്ങളിലാണ്. ചോര പൊടിയുന്ന ആഖ്യാനം. പല വാചകങ്ങളും മനുഷ്യവർഗത്തിന്റെ ഇരട്ടത്താപ്പ് നയങ്ങളോടുള്ള പ്രതിഷേധം. ഒരു ഉദാഹരണം താഴെ:

ഒരേ ചരിത്രസമയത്തിന്റെ വ്യത്യസ്ത ഓർമ്മകൾ പാരമ്പര്യമായി ഉൾക്കൊണ്ട പലേവിധ ജാതിക്കാർ ഒറ്റയ്ക്കും കൂട്ടമായും ചിതറിക്കിടക്കുന്ന ഒരു പഞ്ചായത്ത്. 

ഒരൊറ്റ വാചകം ചരിത്രവും നരവംശശാസ്ത്രവും ജനിതകവും രാഷ്ട്രീയവും ഭൂമിശാസ്ത്രവും ഉൾക്കൊള്ളുന്നു. ഇസ്രയേൽ-പലസ്തീൻ പ്രശ്നം മുതൽ സദ്യയ്ക്ക് പപ്പടം കിട്ടാത്തതിന് നടന്ന അടി വരെയുള്ള തർക്കങ്ങളുടെ അടിസ്ഥാനം വിവരിക്കാനുള്ള ശക്തി ഈ വാചകത്തിനില്ലേ? ഓരോ കഥകളായി എടുത്ത് വിസ്തരിക്കുന്നില്ല. വ്യത്യസ്ത ദ്വന്ദ്വങ്ങളിൽ നിൽക്കുന്നു എന്നു തോന്നിയ രണ്ടു കഥകൾ എടുത്തു പറയാം. 

ഒരു വായനശാലാ വിപ്ലവം മറ്റു കഥകളേക്കാൾ വളരെ തീവ്രത കുറഞ്ഞ ഭാഷയിൽ, പ്രകടമായ ഹാസ്യഭാവത്തിന് പ്രാധാന്യം നൽകുന്ന കഥയാണ്. വായിക്കാനുള്ള അവകാശം തടഞ്ഞു വെച്ച അഴിമതിക്കാരായ അധികാരികളെ വഴിക്കു വരുത്തുന്ന ലീലാമ്മ എന്ന സാധാരണക്കാരിയുടെ കഥ ഒരു കടുത്ത വായനക്കാരൻ ആയതിനാലാണ് എന്നെ അദ്യം ആകർഷിച്ചത്. എന്നാൽ മറ്റു കഥകളിൽ പ്രതിപാദിച്ചിരിക്കുന്ന ആത്മസംഘർഷങ്ങളേക്കാൾ തീവ്രമാണ് സമൂഹത്തോടുളള ലീലാമ്മയുടെ ഒറ്റയ്ക്ക് നിന്നുള്ള എതിരടി. ഹാസ്യത്തിന്റെ ആവരണം അഴിച്ചു മാറ്റിയപ്പോഴാണ് സ്വന്തം മക്കൾ പോലും തള്ളിപ്പറയുന്ന ഈ വിപ്ലവകാരിയുടെ കഥയുടെ ആത്മാവു വെളിവായത്. 

ആമുഖത്തിൽ കഥാകാരി ആഗ്രഹിച്ച പ്രപഞ്ചത്തേയും അനന്തമായ സമയത്തേയും കുറിച്ചുള്ള എഴുത്താണ് ദൈവം എന്ന കഥ. മനുഷ്യരെ തന്റെ രൂപത്തിൽ സൃഷ്ടിച്ച ദൈവം എന്ന വീമ്പു പറച്ചിലിനാണ് ആദ്യത്തെ വീക്ക്. ഏകാന്തനായി ഇഴഞ്ഞു നീങ്ങുന്ന ദൈവവും, ദൈവമാകാൻ വേണ്ടി, പുരപ്പുറത്ത് കുടുങ്ങിയ പൂച്ചയെ സഹായിക്കാത്ത ശാസ്ത്രജ്ഞനും, എല്ലാ വിജ്ഞാനവും വഹിക്കുന്ന ഗ്രന്ഥശാലയിൽ വസിക്കുന്ന കണ്ണില്ലാത്ത കുട്ടികളും, ആധുനിക മനുഷ്യന്റെ നേർക്കു പിടിച്ച കണ്ണാടി തന്നെ. സയൻസ് ഫിക്ഷനും ഫാന്റസിയും കലർന്ന കഥാഖ്യാനം മറ്റു കഥകളുടെ തീക്ഷ്ണതയ്ക്കൊപ്പം എത്താൻ പ്രയാസപ്പെടുമ്പോഴും ആശയപരമായി ചേർന്നു നിൽക്കുന്നത് തന്നെയാണ്. 

സ്ത്രീകളുടെ കഥ പറയാൻ വേണ്ടി ചെടിപ്പിക്കുന്ന ആശയസംഹിതകളിൽ അഭയം തേടാത്ത, ശരിതെറ്റുകളെ സമൂഹ മനസ്സാക്ഷിയുടെ മാത്രം പ്രതിബിംബങ്ങളിലൂടെ കാണാത്ത, ആഖ്യാന രീതിയിൽ മലയോളവും കടലോളവും ഭിന്നത പുലർത്തുന്ന കഥകൾ. 

Book Review: The Body of the Soul by Ludmila Ulitskaya

The Body of the Soul is a short story collection written by the acclaimed Russian writer Ludmila Ulitskaya and translated to English by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. I received an advance copy of the book from the publisher, Yale University Press, through Netgalley in exchange for honest feedback. Ulitskaya started her career as a scientist and, after a while, turned to literature, becoming one of the most important contemporary Russian writers.

I was drawn to the book by its title. It's undoubtedly one of the most philosophical ones that I've encountered recently. Normally, we consider the soul to be something that is outside the confines of a physical body. So, how can the soul have a body? Is the body of the soul in the title a physical one, or is it metaphysical? The body of work of a writer is a collective term used to indicate the writer's creative output, and it need not be physical. Is the term body in the title intended to be used this way?

The book has eleven short stories that are divided into two parts: Girlfriends, which contains four stories, and The Body of the Soul, which has the remaining seven. All eleven stories have certain common themes that bind them together, though structurally they are varied. The stories in the section Girlfriend explore power dynamics in relationships and how the end of a relationship affects these dynamics of domination and submission. Each story surveys this theme from different angles.

The opening story, titled The Dragon and the Phoenix, portrays the relationship between a dying Azarbaijani businesswoman and a more subordinate Armenian woman. In the story Aisa Buys Death, a middleaged, lonely woman with suicidal intentions falls in love and postpones her intentions. A Foreigner is the story about a Russian girl marrying an Iraqi student after being compelled to do so by her mother and finding him missing during her pregnancy. Blessed Are Those Who.. is the story about two siblings confronting their mother's past after her death. The stories in this section struck me with their raw realism. The stories demonstrate different situations where characters take control of themselves or relinquish it and alter their lives.

The second part of the book, which contains seven stories, infuses a subtle element of fantasy as it progresses. We find the life of a lab researcher getting transformed after her visit to a slaughterhouse, a Kafkaesque twist in the life of a woman who finds herself without an appetite, a surreal relationship that has to come down to dreary reality, a talented photographer with a withering body trying to stay alive through his photographs, a toy that gets passed on through generations, an autopsy that shows the presence of the supernatural, and a librarian with boundless memory forgetting words and falling into a world of wordlessness. The second part has shorter stories, with more surrealism and certain Kafkaesque tendencies.

This collection explores relationships with stories that progressively transition from ordinary to fantastic. Each of them has a spiritual quality to it and portrays the metamorphosis of the soul of its protagonists to a higher level. This is achieved either by taking control or giving it up in their relationships, with others whom they love, with the surroundings where they live, or with themselves. When the transformation or transition of an entity happens, it implies the presence of a body, either physical or abstract. So, I believe the title refers to this quality of the soul that transforms itself.

 

Grand Transitions by Vaclav Smil: Why We Are Where We Are...

When we study human history, we see several points in time when a certain event caused a sudden transformation and enhanced the collective experience of being human. Agriculture, taming of fire, invention of the wheel, development of a script, etc. may be considered a few of the early ones. But very recently, we made a huge leap in every aspect of living, and we ended up being modern humans. This transition from pre-modernity to modernity has changed us and our planet fundamentally, for good and for bad.

Vaclav Smil, in his impressive book Grand Transitions, tries to make sense of our transformation to modernity. Smil is a Canadian scientist who is an expert on the environment and energy. His interdisciplinary studies are considered path-breaking. Bill Gates has claimed that he waits for the new book by Vaclav Smil like a fan waiting for the next Star Wars movie. When I checked his bibliography, I found out that he has written more than 40 books, still ten ahead of MCU.

In Grand Transitions, the writer proposes five transitions that were big enough to allow pre-modern humans to reap the benefits and perils of modernity. The first is the demographic transition, which caused the rate of mortality to skydive, followed by the rate of natality with a certain lag. This caused a sudden spike in the global population, followed by a reduction. The end result is an increase in the average age of humans. The second transition happened in the agricultural sector, where, though the number of farmers and the area of cultivated land declined, efficiency grew so much due to technical advances that there was enough food to feed the whole population and then some more to waste.

The third transition occurred in the energy sector. Human beings, who used to depend on inefficient phytomasses (wood, dung) for their energy needs, progressed to use coal and then fossil fuels and became energy rich. The use of fossil fuels and electricity caused a sudden technological advance that never occurred in human history. The fourth transition is in economies, where the majority of the population, who used to be agrarian, progressively shifted from the primary economy (agriculture) to secondary (manufacturing) and then to tertiary (services). The fifth transition in the environment caused severe, unprecedented global alterations to our planet.

All five of these transitions are interconnected and interdependent. For example, the advent of energy sources like fossil fuels resulted in a jump in mass production facilities, favouring the shift of the agrarian population to the manufacturing sector. Likewise, the reduction of the global population created a favourable situation for women to enter the workforce in unprecedented numbers and favoured the development of the tertiary sector of services. These transitions are also largely irreversible on a global or national scale. Is it advisable to return to a time when every child out of five born will die before it turns one year old? But the author stresses that we should not fixate on the causes and effects of these transitions, which are the results of quite complex and interdependent variables that can only be studied and verified by using huge and precise data sets.

It is wrong to assume that these transitions happened simultaneously across the globe. Some affluent nations in Europe and America were forerunners of the phenomenon. It can be observed that the transitions that occurred in these nations, which took even centuries to play out fully, are now in an ending phase. Some other nations were late starters, like India, China, and Southeast Asian nations. Global transitions are being played out in these nations, and we can observe it in their average age of population and their energy requirements. There are a set of nations where the trends are just starting out, like some African nations, where traditional agrarian societies still prevail.

The writer is not ready to predict the future using economic models because he believes they may never yield the correct result. He cautions the readers about experts who predict extremes, either an apocalyptic future or a technologically advanced one that solves all the perils of transitions. He is of the opinion that:

Another epochal transition is unfolding, and its outcome is not foreordained; it remains contingent on our choices.

The book is driven by numbers and data, which the author uses lavishly to illustrate his points. It also has a high number of citations and quotations; a couple of them appear in every paragraph on the page. At least thirty percent of them are quoted by the author to prove how wrong they are. Smil is a very convincing writer who uses copious amounts of data and studies to back his claims. But one of my major grievances about the book is the omission of any mention of the factor of colonialism in the transitions. The energy transitions and the industrial revolution that spearheaded England to be the forerunner needed mass amounts of capital and cheap raw materials. Where did it manage to obtain that? The pages of history will answer it.