A Preface to Man
Page 43
A Preface has a painstakingly wrought structure, which holds a tight rein on its craft, in terms of its plot, language and time scheme. Was the emphasis on form consciously attempted for innovation?
The book that Ann Marie’s husband yearned so fiercely to write appears in her dream as a bolt of lightning. In her dream, she even knows the exact number of pages that the book has. When you reach the end of the novel, you realize that that book too has the exact same number of pages. Thus, a dimension of magic has also been incorporated into the novel. This is something that we are not too familiar with in Indian novels. In a novel of nearly 400 pages, I have paid more than adequate attention to craft, to steer clear of tedium.
You have written that you have been overwhelmed by the responses of your readers, who often equate your characters with the people in your life. Could you recollect instances in your life from which the narrative has drawn its energy?
I have not seen my grandfather. However, I painted Naraappilla with some of the residual colours hoarded from the stories I heard from my mother and others. I have only used my grandfather’s DNA in Naraappilla. There is no other similarity, either in life or death, that Naraappilla shares with him. Not just the characters, but every image in the novel is created thus. Yet, it is not like how a stone carver makes the grinding stone and its roller, mano to grind with. The carver is not a sculpting artist. A sculptor does not continue to replicate his creation. Symbols created artificially will only obstruct the flow of reading. It is true that a sculpture is made from rock. But is it merely rock? Far from it!
Acknowledgements
Both Subhash and I are very grateful to Lakshmy Rajeev, who happened to come into our acquaintance at the right time, connecting us to the delightfully purposeful Kanishka Gupta, who put us to our publisher, HarperCollins India and its ever-patient Minakshi Th akur, and Prerna Gill. Special mentions must be made of Jojy Philip who typeset the draft, while maintaining his cool in incorporating last-minute changes, and of Girija Padmanabhan, my fellow Kannurite at HCI.
I am deeply indebted to my friend Nandakumar, for having strayed into my translation out of curiosity and off ering to be a willing accomplice for the sheer pleasure of discovering a potential translator within himself, and painstakingly reading through my careless errors while motivating me when my interest flagged. Adept at using internet resources, Nandan assiduously tracked oversights in chronology and mismatched quotations in the original, which were subsequently changed by Subhash. More than anything else, I am grateful to Nandan, for helping me keep faith and not give up, sometimes out of sheer lack of time and laziness, and sometimes because it was too demanding. Th ere are many, whom I cannot thank enough, from the ever-suff ering Riaz, Hannah, and Aamir, who bore my obsessive translation sprees without complaint, even as they ate up most of my vacations in Sharjah; my friends, M.V. Narayanan, always my rock, and Santhi, who put me to N.P. Sajesh, who in turn introduced me to Subhash.
I thank my friends, Manoj, Nishad, Sunil P. Elayidom, Tommy John, Jurgen Quibbler, Maya Nair and many others who stood through my vexing doubts and uncertainties. Needless to say, Safia, Tasnim, Kouser, Aysha, Abid, Sana, Shahabuddin and Jaleel, who were unwavering in their faith in me, even as they are still unwilling to forgive me for not completing my own novel that has been in the half-born stage for many years now; my word-driven parents, Nafeesa and Mayan who initiated my love for reading; and Harris, Ashraf, and Parveen for their support. Two absences I regret and miss more than ever are, my little mentor, Nazreen and my dear guide, T.K. Ramchandran.
About the Book
Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirala’, the first modern Hindi poet of India, is all of sixteen and not conversant with the Khari Boli Hindi of the litterateurs yet when his father gets him married and sends him off to his in-laws’ in Dalmau to fetch his bride. There he meets a strange man called Kulli Bhaat who claims descent from a family of bards and, despite his mother-in-law’s reservations about Kulli’s sexuality, Nirala finds himself drawn to Kulli. Then an influenza epidemic breaks out, claiming numerous lives, and Nirala’s bereavement leaves him without mooring. Adrift on the boat of time, he seeks employment in various places but finds himself unable to stay away from Dalmau for long. Kulli, in the meanwhile, has taken a Muslim wife and become a champion of the untouchables.
Set in pre-Independence India, A Life Misspent is as much the account of an unlikely friendship as it is a coming-of-age story. A memoir on the making of one of the greatest poets of all time.
About the Author
SUBHASH CHANDRAN was born in 1972 in Kadungalloor, Kerala. He was the only Malayalam writer to feature in The Times of India list of outstanding young Indian writers and India Today hailed him as one of the twenty young talents of Malayalam. He has won numerous prestigious awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award, Odakkuzhal Award and Vayalar literary prize.
He is best known for his novel Manushyanu Oru Amukham (A Preface to Man). It received great critical acclaim and remains one of the best-selling books in Malayalam. Four of his stories have been adapted into films. Based on the story ‘Vadhakramam’, the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, produced a short film, which won a special jury mention at the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival. The Malayalam feature film Laptop is an adaptation of the short story ‘Parudeesa Nashtam’. His story ‘Sanmargam’ was filmed as A Knife in the Bar in Malayalam, while the story ‘Guptham’ was filmed as Akasmikam. His other major works include Kathakal: Subhash Chandran (complete story collection), Ghatikarangal Nilakkunna Samayam, Parudeesa Nashtam, Thalpam, Bloody Mary, Vihitham (short-story collection), Madhyeyingane, Kaanunnanerathu, and Das Capital (memoirs). He has also published eight books for children.
FATHIMA E.V. is a translator-writer based in Kannur. Apart from A Preface to Man, her translations include a forthcoming collection of short stories and memoirs of Malayalam writer Gracy. She has also translated contemporary Malayalam poetry, and translated and edited the English text for Kerala Folklore Academy’s tome on theyyams. She is currently engaged in a collaborative translation of Malayalam critical discourses and is also the editor of Indian Ink, the ‘little’ little magazine.
Praise for A Preface to Man
‘In its historical sweep, original craft and mastery of narrative, Subhash Chandran’s A Preface to Man takes its place in the front row of modern Indian fiction, heralding, along with the works of several young contemporaries, the rebirth of the great Indian novel in the twenty-first century. The Indian novel is flourishing where it should—in the heart of India, the rich, black, upturned soil of the Indian languages.’
— PAUL ZACHARIA
‘A book of such brilliance needs to be translated into every language. Deeply moving.’
— ANEES SALIM
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First published in India in 2016 by Harper Perennial
An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
Copyright © Subhash Chandran 2016
Translation and P.S. copyright © Fathima E.V. 2016
P-ISBN: 978-93-5177-378-8
Epub Edition © April 2016 ISBN: 978-93-5177-379-5
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Subhash Chandran asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
This is a work of fiction and all characters and incidents described in this book are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under The Copyright Act, 1957. By payment of
the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers India.
Cover design and illustration: Maithili Doshi Aphale
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