A Conversation with Sunil Sharma on Literature
I am featured in an interview on India's Creative Saplings forum, under the topic, "Voices: near and far-off". Very thoughtful questions from Sunil Sharma, a writer and scholar based in India. Here, in part, is the interview:
Sunil --Do you think writing is important in to-day’s global world?
Emmanuel: Writing is more important now than it has ever been. For one, there is increased literacy in the world and more access to technology, and with the internet, we read about places we would known about otherwise. Our world abounds with news of disasters and sometimes it seems that as we draw closer to each other we are still in many ways separated by the specificity of our experiences. For this and many reasons, writing can be used to help us understand each other as we work together in the global world.
As cultures interact, it is important to gain literacy about them, and one way to ensure that this happens is through writing. Who knew that HBO, for instance, would be running a series set in Botswana called The Number 1 Lady Detective Agency, which is based on books written by a Zimbabwean based in the UK. Only in a globalized world is such a thing possible.
Sunil -- Can it make a solid effect in a standardized world of mass-produced objects?
Emmanuel: With the proliferation of mass-produced objects, it would seem like writing has not place anymore in the world, but the opposite is true. Even as we enjoy these objects, the need arises to express our experiences of such enjoyment through writing. But remember that writing is a skill that’s required in life, so on its own, it will continue to be taught as a part of the socialization of people into the literate society; and along with this comes reading, which could inspire further writing. Because writing is part of art, which we will always use to express ourselves, it doesn’t seem like something we can stop to do, as long as we remain artistic beings.
Sunil -- How writing can really resist the reified thinking of a commercialized culture?
Emmanuel: Writing cannot resist its commercial reification, but true art has a way of emerging, whether or not it is treated as a beneficial commodity. Take poetry, for instance. Looking at the state of poetry, one would be discouraged from even becoming a poet, but because it is an art that often reaches the core of our humanity, a deepest expression of our feelings, a liberating one at that, it always resists reified thinking. But not all forms of writing can afford to avoid the commercial realities of our world. Much of popular writing is tailored towards money-making, otherwise it would be a waste of time. And often what can be commercialized is people’s attitude towards a form of writing. There is a ready market for popular fiction, and publishers thus keep churning it out. As for serious literary writing, as long as we teach literature in schools, and there are degrees to be earned in literature, there is a great chance that no amount of commoditization can take away the creative leanings of a Toni Morrison.
Sunil -- Can avant-garde neutralize the increasing commodification of art and artistic products?
Emmanuel: I imagine it would do so if it is not itself immediately commoditized. But in a place like the United States, institutions responsible for the creation of art, all the MFA programs, which may even encourage some form of a uniform avant-garde, are built around the idea of looking at art as commodity. Perhaps the image of the starving artist is fast dying, as commoditization, as with reification, of an artist’s work may bring commercial gains. Avant-garde, in its search for evocation and radicalism is sometimes a quick target for objectification, as people sometimes fall for what’s different, what resists the establishment. It can easily gain the revered label of “cool”.
Sunil -- Cultural location and place and locale are important in a trans-national, Internet-driven world?
Emmanuel: On April 25 I was a presenter at a writer’s conference where the keynote speaker, Julia Connor (poet laureate of Sacramento) talked about the importance of place in writing about our stories. I found her message strong and valuable, as I have always believed, in the Faulknerian model, that specificity in place and locale can enhance the universal in a work of literature.
Place is even more important in this globalized, internet-driven world because it helps writers ground themselves in an idiosyncratic mode from which to create their works. Someone reading about Mumbai while in Harare will become aware of the specificity of Mumbai as a location, which has also been universalized by the internet; that person may want to contribute to the specified presentation of a Harare life, which is immediately given universal presence on the world wide web. Of course, issues of interest and access of such broadcasting of information about the places does not reach everyone at the same time or with the same impact. There are far too many people who still cannot access the internet, but to those who do, learning about the specific settings of an author’s work is important.
Specificity in setting has always been important in the most successful literature and will continue to in this internet world of ours. In fact, specificity is more important now than it has ever been.
Sunil -- Why is there a dearth of serious voices? Why is there a multiplicity of small voices in every literature?
Emmanuel: If this question is being given in the context of internet publishing, I would say it depends on what “seriousness” here means. But it is true that not many of the established writers publish online, although their works are increasingly being sampled online as a marketing or promotional tool. Traditional publishing, especially as handled by conglomerates and media companies, continues to attract the big names, because bigness attracts bigness. And some of these big names happen to be serious—Michael Ondaatje, Salman Rushdie, J.M. Coetzee, Jhumpa Lahiri,Ian McEwan and many others.
A multiplicity of small voices in every literature is caused by the fact that current publishing trends are favorable to keeping a multiplicity of names small while promoting the few big ones which are already profitable. Publishing is risk-taking; it’s a big investment. But the multiplicity of the small names is a good sign that there is ambition, and that people still believe in writing. With hard work, some of those multiple, small names will join the top brass, as defined first, by the conglomerates, and second, by elite prizes like the Nobel, and fellowships like the Macarthur.
Sometimes writers just want to express themselves, which explains why there seem to be a multiplicity of small voices. Such voices, because they want to be heard, become easy victims of the vanity press and scam writing contests, but some have also taken to self-publishing on the internet. Sometimes they are desperate to have their work out that they will not give it the effort it needs, and we end up with more sub-standard writing by many small voices. In their smallness, though, there is a bigness that’s defined by the sheer size of their number, and they are hard to ignore. The internet may finally change the way publishing works.
Read more on the Creative Saplings forum. The founder of this forum, Shaleen Kumar Singh, is the founding editor of the journal Creative Saplings.
Sunil --Do you think writing is important in to-day’s global world?
Emmanuel: Writing is more important now than it has ever been. For one, there is increased literacy in the world and more access to technology, and with the internet, we read about places we would known about otherwise. Our world abounds with news of disasters and sometimes it seems that as we draw closer to each other we are still in many ways separated by the specificity of our experiences. For this and many reasons, writing can be used to help us understand each other as we work together in the global world.
As cultures interact, it is important to gain literacy about them, and one way to ensure that this happens is through writing. Who knew that HBO, for instance, would be running a series set in Botswana called The Number 1 Lady Detective Agency, which is based on books written by a Zimbabwean based in the UK. Only in a globalized world is such a thing possible.
Sunil -- Can it make a solid effect in a standardized world of mass-produced objects?
Emmanuel: With the proliferation of mass-produced objects, it would seem like writing has not place anymore in the world, but the opposite is true. Even as we enjoy these objects, the need arises to express our experiences of such enjoyment through writing. But remember that writing is a skill that’s required in life, so on its own, it will continue to be taught as a part of the socialization of people into the literate society; and along with this comes reading, which could inspire further writing. Because writing is part of art, which we will always use to express ourselves, it doesn’t seem like something we can stop to do, as long as we remain artistic beings.
Sunil -- How writing can really resist the reified thinking of a commercialized culture?
Emmanuel: Writing cannot resist its commercial reification, but true art has a way of emerging, whether or not it is treated as a beneficial commodity. Take poetry, for instance. Looking at the state of poetry, one would be discouraged from even becoming a poet, but because it is an art that often reaches the core of our humanity, a deepest expression of our feelings, a liberating one at that, it always resists reified thinking. But not all forms of writing can afford to avoid the commercial realities of our world. Much of popular writing is tailored towards money-making, otherwise it would be a waste of time. And often what can be commercialized is people’s attitude towards a form of writing. There is a ready market for popular fiction, and publishers thus keep churning it out. As for serious literary writing, as long as we teach literature in schools, and there are degrees to be earned in literature, there is a great chance that no amount of commoditization can take away the creative leanings of a Toni Morrison.
Sunil -- Can avant-garde neutralize the increasing commodification of art and artistic products?
Emmanuel: I imagine it would do so if it is not itself immediately commoditized. But in a place like the United States, institutions responsible for the creation of art, all the MFA programs, which may even encourage some form of a uniform avant-garde, are built around the idea of looking at art as commodity. Perhaps the image of the starving artist is fast dying, as commoditization, as with reification, of an artist’s work may bring commercial gains. Avant-garde, in its search for evocation and radicalism is sometimes a quick target for objectification, as people sometimes fall for what’s different, what resists the establishment. It can easily gain the revered label of “cool”.
Sunil -- Cultural location and place and locale are important in a trans-national, Internet-driven world?
Emmanuel: On April 25 I was a presenter at a writer’s conference where the keynote speaker, Julia Connor (poet laureate of Sacramento) talked about the importance of place in writing about our stories. I found her message strong and valuable, as I have always believed, in the Faulknerian model, that specificity in place and locale can enhance the universal in a work of literature.
Place is even more important in this globalized, internet-driven world because it helps writers ground themselves in an idiosyncratic mode from which to create their works. Someone reading about Mumbai while in Harare will become aware of the specificity of Mumbai as a location, which has also been universalized by the internet; that person may want to contribute to the specified presentation of a Harare life, which is immediately given universal presence on the world wide web. Of course, issues of interest and access of such broadcasting of information about the places does not reach everyone at the same time or with the same impact. There are far too many people who still cannot access the internet, but to those who do, learning about the specific settings of an author’s work is important.
Specificity in setting has always been important in the most successful literature and will continue to in this internet world of ours. In fact, specificity is more important now than it has ever been.
Sunil -- Why is there a dearth of serious voices? Why is there a multiplicity of small voices in every literature?
Emmanuel: If this question is being given in the context of internet publishing, I would say it depends on what “seriousness” here means. But it is true that not many of the established writers publish online, although their works are increasingly being sampled online as a marketing or promotional tool. Traditional publishing, especially as handled by conglomerates and media companies, continues to attract the big names, because bigness attracts bigness. And some of these big names happen to be serious—Michael Ondaatje, Salman Rushdie, J.M. Coetzee, Jhumpa Lahiri,Ian McEwan and many others.
A multiplicity of small voices in every literature is caused by the fact that current publishing trends are favorable to keeping a multiplicity of names small while promoting the few big ones which are already profitable. Publishing is risk-taking; it’s a big investment. But the multiplicity of the small names is a good sign that there is ambition, and that people still believe in writing. With hard work, some of those multiple, small names will join the top brass, as defined first, by the conglomerates, and second, by elite prizes like the Nobel, and fellowships like the Macarthur.
Sometimes writers just want to express themselves, which explains why there seem to be a multiplicity of small voices. Such voices, because they want to be heard, become easy victims of the vanity press and scam writing contests, but some have also taken to self-publishing on the internet. Sometimes they are desperate to have their work out that they will not give it the effort it needs, and we end up with more sub-standard writing by many small voices. In their smallness, though, there is a bigness that’s defined by the sheer size of their number, and they are hard to ignore. The internet may finally change the way publishing works.
Read more on the Creative Saplings forum. The founder of this forum, Shaleen Kumar Singh, is the founding editor of the journal Creative Saplings.
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