'A Bias Towards the Present?' ❤️

Time Present and Time Past! ❤️

3rd March 2000

[this day, 24 years ago from my personal diaries]

#memoriesfromdiaries

#presentism #anachronism

This past diary entry dated almost a quarter century ago, jotted down by me, on 3rd March 2000, has two lovely anecdotes for the present!

Both events are highlighted in red!

First and foremost,

Cleaned 15 photos for Rs. 75/-

Judging by today’s yardstick, the phrase, ‘Cleaned photos’ might be considered quite anachronistic!

The Cambridge English dictionary defines anachronism as,

‘something placed in the wrong period in history, or something that belongs to the past rather than the present’.

The purpose of this post, hence is to highlight the importance of anachronisms to literary studies in general, and memory studies in particular; on how anachronisms could serve as a powerful tool for the periodization of history and memory.

Gerard Genette calls them “narrative anachronies!”

For example, consider the following two sentences -

‘I need to write an inland!’

Or

‘I need to clean the photos’

Well, writing an inland and cleaning the photos have become obsolete or anachronistic by all means!

Hence the above two sentences might sound quite weird to anyone who hasn’t seen an inland letter anytime in their lives or hasn’t known the process of ‘cleaning photos’ – which involves taking their negatives to the photo studio, - being extra careful not to expose them to light while removing the film roll from the camera, etc.

Writing an ‘inland’ and the ‘cleaning’ of photos, could then be periodised or pigeon-holed to a specific time-frame in history, that predates the arrival of the email or the arrival of digital photos!

As eminent critic Scupin Richard rightly points out,

Anachronism hence becomes a lovely liasioning agent connecting the present with the past!

Still, to each their aura and their glory!

Hence it becomes next to impossible to judge one era in time using the yardsticks of another period in time!

Just because I didn’t grow up with a mobile phone, (or didn’t even know much about mobile phones) until I finished on my College studies, doesn’t necessarily mean that, I should assess and evaluate today’s kids and their tryst with the mobile phone, using our past generation’s yardsticks, ways and manners!

And if at all I try doing that, I’m being a presentist!

Yes, a presentist is one who mixes present-day thoughts, values and perspectives to analyse or interpret events or objects of the past!

But fortunately or unfortunately that’s exactly what the New Historicists do!

So what then is Presentism?

Jeffrey R. Wilson in his insightful critical essay titled, ‘Historicizing Presentism: Toward the Creation of a Journal of the Public Humanities,’ gives us a very interesting take on presentism.

Here goes -

There’s always been tension between historicism and presentism.

The term presentism originated in the twentieth century in the discipline of history as a pejorative for the faulty understanding of the past in terms of the present.

Defining presentism as “a bias towards the present or present-day attitudes, esp. in the interpretation of history,” the Oxford English Dictionary gives 1916 as the term’s first instance (“Presentism, N.”).

The term didn’t register a significant presence until the 1940s; its prominence crept slowly upward until, in the mid-1980s, its popularity skyrocketed.

The term is now more popular than ever, most memorably addressed in the 2002 essay “Against Presentism,” by the historian Lynn Hunt, president of the American Historical Society at the time, who wrote, “presentism besets us in two different ways: (1) the tendency to interpret the past in presentist terms; and (2) the shift of general historical interest toward the contemporary period and away from the more distant past.”

That’s an introduction to anachronism and presentism for you dear reader!

Secondly,

The Samata Party leader Mr. Nitish Kumar was sworn in today as the new Chief Minister of Bihar, by the Governor Mr. V. C. Pande. The Governor’s decision had evoked widespread criticism as well. However, this swearing in, has gone into the records, since his government lasted only a mere seven days in office.

A little history should help –

Well, Mr. Nitish Kumar was the founder of the Samata Party (SAP) - in 1994 along with Mr. George Fernandes. Within two years, Nitish was elected to the Lok Sabha, and he also served as a Union Minister in the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, since his party had then joined hands with the National Democratic Alliance.

In March 2000, Nitish was elected Chief Minister of Bihar for the first time with the suggestion given by the Vajpayee Government at the centre.

While the NDA had 151 MLAs, Lalu Prasad Yadav had 159 MLAs in the 324-member house. Both alliances were less than the majority mark that is 163. That’s hence the Governor’s decision evoked widespread criticism. Unfortunately, Nitish resigned before he could prove his numbers in the house, since he found the numbers stacked against him.

Smt Rabri Devi, who took over from Nitish, went on to be the Chief Minister of Bihar from 11 Mar 2000 to 06 Mar 2005!

Interestingly, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi was also the Governor of Bihar during Smt Rabri Devi’s tenure as Chief Minister.

On an aside –

Prof. Gopalkrishna Gandhi is 79 years old, and he is now serving as Distinguished Professor of History and Politics, Ashoka University, Sonepat, Haryana (India).

Added, Prof. Gopalkrishna Gandhi has also translated the Tamil classic, Thirukkural, written by the sage poet Thiruvallar, into English, in the year 2015.

And guess the publisher? 

Mr. David Davidar!

Well, most of us MCC-ians would have sure known Mr. Davidar, founder of Aleph Book Company, [formerly CEO with Penguin], and an illustrious alumnus of Madras Christian College, who is quite popular for his novel, The House of Blue Mangoes, which contains memorable nuggets of his blessed time in MCC!