Kiran Nagarkars 40-year-old labour of love re-releases: Despite an underlying sense of optimism most critics have had a hard time reconciling with Kiran Nagarkars apparent irreverent nihilism right from his first work - Saat Sakkam Trechalis (SST) [Seven Sixes are Forty Three, 1980] in his mother tongue, Marathi - which is being republished and released on Monday by Shabd publications. We wanted to republish some of the most significant books, which have managed to blaze trails and pioneer new trends not only for Marathi but Indian literature as a whole, said Yeshu Patil, publisher, who has acquired rights for the re-publication. Patil mentions how Nagarkars first book shocked critics and readers alike. It didnt help that the story was that of septuagenarian looking back at his messy life for that matter or that it was so unique in language, writing style, and its character graphs. He remembers how veteran journalist Kumar Ketkar, had torn into the book when it released. He has since then changed his view on it. This is the reason we are getting the book re-released by him, Patil said. Ketkar said that the book pioneered a style, until then unknown in Marathi. Later, as the book grew on me, I came to realise how avant-garde and post-modernist a work it was. It tried to depict the cluttered world of a youth trying to understand and cope with the delightful chaos around him in a hitherto unknown style. There is an interesting story behind Nagarkars first brush with writing. It goes back to when he was teaching at SIES College, and his friend, the renowned poet, author, painter and sculptor, Dilip Chitre, was looking out for stories for his fathers magazine, Abhiruchi. When I got to know he was looking for stories, I submitted my first draft of a short story in Marathi, Nagarkar said, adding that thereafter he went on to write his first novel, SST. The 1942-born Nagarkar, has emerged as one of Indias most celebrated, prolific, post-colonial writers, relevant to both Marathi and English literature. He resorts to self-effacing sarcasm when asked to react to his first book SST turning 40. The Guinness Book record-worthy success of SST, which sold a record 1,000 copies is what comes to my mind, he said. Did the poor response to his maiden Marathi book put him off writing in his mother tongue? Tell me, does anyone want to read me in Marathi? The author can only build half-a-bridge, the other half has to come from readers. What really bothers me was that there is an equation in some minds that if you write in regional languages you are authentic; if not, youre a fraud. He cites the instance of his partner Arun Kolatkar, who he worked with in advertising for 20 years. Arun too was bilingual. So when we wrote in Marathi, we were authentic, and when we didnt, we werent? If we were so valuable as Marathi writers, where was the recognition? When I got the Sahitya Akademi award, for Cuckold, many Marathi papers came to interview me. All they could ask was, Why have you stopped writing in Marathi? They never asked me, How come you only write in two languages? And they never got around to the real question of how I began writing in a language (Marathi) in which I studied only for four years! Calling it a stroke of luck that he started writing in Marathi, Nagarkar, has written plays like Kabirache Kay Karayche, Stranger Amongst Us and the controversial play Bed Time Story (BTS) in Marathi. All his books — Cuckold, Gods Little Soldier and The Extras, have been in English. Critics said he had abandoned his mother tongue, when he made the shift. The same critics who made me feel bad didnt come to my rescue when BTS and got me into so much trouble, Nagarkar said. , but confesses that at one point of time he too began to believe what they said. During my fellowship in the US, the doctors told me that I had acute depression. I realised that the depression was because I felt Id betrayed Marathi, he said. ReportLifetsyleYogesh PawarDNAMumbaiundefinedMonday, 15 September 2014 - 7:17am RNA Research & Archivesdnai.in/cn6C1 dnaindia/lifetsyle/report-kiran-nagarkar-s-40-year-old-labour-of-love-re-releases-2018667
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 01:58:35 +0000
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