"Jonas has been selected to be our next Receiver of Memory."

Lois Lowry | The Giver

“Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul,” says Rosamond Smith or Lauren Kelly or Joyce Carol Oates, as we popularly know her!

Indeed, that’s the exact feel one gets when one reads through Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland ain’t it? Right from off the opening lines where Alice is shown so subtly graduating from real land into la la land aka wonderland!

This ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ is indeed such a thrill and a joy to us, passionate readers of these ‘wonderland-type’ stories of all hues, ain’t it?

And on an added high was this special thrill we all had experienced, back then, during our childhood days, when we used to literally parse our way through every line, every paragraph and every page of this ‘Carroll classic,’ Alice in Wonderland with such wide-eyed curiosity writ large all over us!

Ooooh boyyy! This transition from the real to the magical was so deft, so subtle and so suave that there always was the highest of possibilities for us in failing to notice which was which!

Sample this from Alice in the very opening page – (and tell me sometime later, how you found the transition going for you!)

ALICE was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?'

So she was considering, in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" (when she thought it over afterwards it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but, when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed to be a very deep well.

And this is exactly the magical power and the mystical charm that Joyce Carol Oates [who’s – on sweet coincidence – counted on such high renown for her famed Wonderland quartet] tells us when she talks about the power of reading! She says, [I repeat] -

Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.

And that’s yet another reason why John Milton famously speaks to the evocative power of a good book in such eulogizing terms, when he says that,

A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life!

In fact, that is one of the supra-dynamic powers contained, by default, within any masterly literary piece, to gently make us slip, involuntarily, into another’s skin, another’s world, another’s voice or even another’s soul! And of such is the power of literature to endow us with alternative realities, hypothetical factualities, or still better, helps us imagine alternative possibilities to our realities, wherein our thoughts and our imaginations can go much beyond facts to encompass other possibilities.

Fiction that springs up on the utopian and dystopian mode, belongs to this breed of the ‘speculative’ that gives the reader the ‘what might have beens’ to another parallel reality altogether!

One such dystopian fiction is Lois Lowry’s The Giver that bespeaks to a futuristic society in which science and technology play a subtle yet vital role!

In this futuristic society, the people of the community practice ‘sameness’ in all aspects to life and living! Hence, as a fall out of this ‘conformity’, the community’s people have long lost their finer instincts that were so unique to each of them, like for example, the ability to listen to music, the ability to feel love, their ability to see colour, etc. In fact, there’s no choice, whatsoever, for them to choose from! Everything is dictated in their lives, according to a strict set of ‘rules,’ that condition their lives!

Jonas, the protagonist of the novel, is an adolescent boy who’s waiting his adult occupation to be assigned or proffered on him by the community’s Elders. 

Jonas is shocked beyond words when the Chief Elder of the community proffers on him a very special assignment! He would be the Receiver of Memory of the entire community from thence on!

The Receiver of Memory is considered a person of repute in this society, as he would be the one who takes upon himself the most difficult task of bearing the burden of the memories from all of his culture, his society and his history, and hence, he has the unique privilege of being allowed access to books, which none else could possibly do!

Snippets from the read, for y’all -

Reassuringly she placed her arm across his tense shoulders.

"Jonas has not been assigned," she informed the crowd, and his heart sank.

Then she went on. "Jonas has been selected."

He blinked. What did that mean? He felt a collective, questioning stir from the audience.

They, too, were puzzled.

In a firm, commanding voice she announced, "Jonas has been selected to be our next Receiver of Memory."

Then he heard the gasp - the sudden intake of breath, drawn sharply in astonishment, by each of the seated citizens. He saw their faces; the eyes widened in awe.

And still he did not understand.

"Such a selection is very, very rare," the Chief Elder told the audience. "Our community has only one Receiver. It is he who trains his successor.

"We have had our current Receiver for a very long time," she went on. Jonas followed her eyes and saw that she was looking at one of the Elders. The Committee of Elders was sitting together in a group; and the Chief Elder's eyes were now on one who sat in the midst but seemed oddly separate from them.

"We failed in our last selection," the Chief Elder said solemnly. "It was ten years ago, when Jonas was just a toddler. I will not dwell on the experience because it causes us all terrible discomfort."

He is to be alone, apart, while he is prepared by the current Receiver for the job which is the most honored in our community."

Alone? Apart? Jonas listened with increasing unease.

"Therefore the selection must be sound. It must be a unanimous choice of the Committee. They can have no doubts, however fleeting. If, during the process, an Elder reports a dream of uncertainty, that dream has the power to set a candidate aside instantly.

"Jonas was identified as a possible Receiver many years ago. We have observed him meticulously. There were no dreams of uncertainty.

"He has shown all of the qualities that a Receiver must have."

With her hand still firmly on his shoulder, the Chief Elder listed the qualities.

"Intelligence." she said. "We are all aware that Jonas has been a top student throughout his school days.

"Integrity" she said next. "Jonas has, like all of us, committed minor transgressions." She smiled at him. "We expect that. We hoped, also, that he would present himself promptly for chastisement, and he has always done so.

"Courage," she went on. "Only one of us here today has ever undergone the rigorous training required of a Receiver. He, of course, is the most important member of the Committee: the current Receiver. It was he who reminded us, again and again, of the courage required.

Now, for the first time in his twelve years of life, Jonas felt separate, different. He remembered what the Chief Elder had said: that his training would be alone and apart.

But his training had not yet begun and already, upon leaving the Auditorium, he felt the apartness. Holding the folder she had given him, he made his way through the throng, looking for his family unit and for Asher. People moved aside for him. They watched him. He thought he could hear whispers.

No spoilers though!

But yes! With the intense training that Jonas receives, as the newy Receiver, he is able to see beyond the ‘conformity’ or ‘sameness’! Sadly, the blessing of a good memory had been removed from all the members of the community, for reasons of security, conformity, and sameness!

So once Jonas gets to receive his training as the new Receiver, by the Giver of memories, (his trainer) from then on, he begins to look beyond this monotonous 'Sameness.' Now, he is able to see and appreciate the various colours (which his community cannot!) and he is also able to feel love, pain, hunger and starvation! (which his community members cannot!)

Hence, after this initiation into the world of memory, Jonas feels shocked that memories have been deprived from his community. So he resolves, in quiet collusion with the Giver, that it’s high time the memories of the community be restored and returned unto them, as the community seems to have completely lost its way down the ages, as he is of the convinced opinion that sameness and conformity could make a person's life utterly meaningless!

What happens next, is for y’all to read! ;-)

Well, then, a host of interesting parallels abound in the entire gamut of literature, that so sync with the story line of this absorbing dystopian read! I’d like to make a passing mention of just three of ‘em over here!

Something akin to this storyline, happens in Ayn Rand’s gripping dystopian novella titled Anthem!

The novella Anthem, is a dystopian story, taking place in some remote time in the future, in a place where freedom and individual rights have been stifled and completely dispensed with. Collectivism has replaced individualism!

Hence, the 21-year old protagonist who goes by the peculiar name, Equality 7-2521, uses only plural pronouns ("we", "our", "they") to refer to himself and to others.

Like all the other children in this collectivist society, Equality 7-2521 was also brought up, away from his parents, in collective homes.

Equality feels that he has a ‘curse’ on him, that makes him very receptive to any subject that’s being taught, and as a result so many questions pop up in his ‘scholarly’ bent of mind!

More on 'Equality' HERE, in our past post on Ayn Rand! ;-)

The next one, for passing reference would be on Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

Written way way back in 1953, the book is a brilliant yet shocking critique of a dystopian world in which ‘independent thinking’ and ‘enlightened questioning’ are considered taboo and anathema to society’s ‘interests’! Also, because books and the ideas contained within them enable a person to exercise independent, sane and rational judgments, they were conveniently considered ‘detrimental’ to the interests of the State and its agenda!

But to Bradbury, books are the most sacred of objects, as they are transmitters of stories! Hence, by burning books, the ruling dispensation in this dystopian American society, has curtailed the freedom of expression and thereby stifled the human spirit itself! More on Fahrenheit, on our past post HERE.

The third book for a passing mention would be, Milan Kundera’s Ignorance, in which he deals with themes pertaining to memory and forgetting. Milan beautifully brings out the bitter truth that, ‘selective memories’ here act as mere antecedents to ignorance. In other words, ‘ignorance’ here could either be a deliberate, willing action that people take part in, by avoiding or walking out of unpleasant topics in a conversation, or it could also be pretending or feigning ignorance of the past rather than facing reality or the truth! The book would sure provide such a profound platform for both discussion and dissection, particularly in the fields of Memory Studies and Exilic Literature!

To be continued…

images: thoughtcodotcom, amazondotcom, nexusglassborodotcom

'When autumn strikes, we need to be prepared for the winter, the storms, the floods and the dark clouds – the season of mist. Our life goes through seasons too!'

'Surviving the Storm' | On Chaaru's Winter

Well, here goes my little take on Chaaru’s Winter: Survive the Storm and Withstand the Cold.

In fact, the subtitle in itself has oodles of incentives on offer for the reader, to launch oneself into the book full throttle.

I was equally intrigued when I chanced upon this lovely phrase on the subtitle, which reads, ‘Survive the Storm!’

Indeed, the word ‘storm’ brings to one's mind a battery of associations and significations that could connote anything from trauma, to violence, to agony, to physical violations, to terrorism, to war, to emotional upheavals, and to psychological troubles, etc.

Toni Cade Bambara’s experimental and maiden novel The Salt Eaters is a case in point. The story is about a bevy of seven sisters who are women of colour, drawn from diverse backgrounds, and are journeying towards the fictional town of Claybourne in Georgia, for an annual festival hosted by a community school there. 

The seven sisters have such vibrancy to their spirit and such dynamism to their souls that, they are so passionate and so alike in their dreams! A dream to change the world and to transform their society! And this they do, in their own little ways, by loving one another, helping one another, caring for one another, and supporting one another in their times of distress! As such, they also double up as both therapeutic healers and amazing artists touching lives and changing societies on the go!

The novel begins with Minnie Ransom, the famed, ‘fabled healer’ of the district, asking Velma, who has attempted suicide,

Are you sure, sweetheart, that you want to be well?

Velma Henry turned stiffly on the stool, the gown ties tight across her back, the knots hard. So taut for so long, she could not swivel. Neck, back, hip joints dry, stiff. Face frozen. She could not glower, suck her teeth, roll her eyes, do any of the Velma-things by way of answering Minnie Ransom.

In fact, the ‘well’ here could connote to mean the wellness of Velma, and of her entire community as well, which is bound to happen only if they could survive and come safe and secure, from the ‘storms’ they face in their lives – both literal and figurative ones!

Deep into the novel, now, Campbell could sense a storm brewing – this time a literal storm!

He wondered what effect the storm would have on the Brotherhood’s pageant, on the Academy’s procession, on the police’s program, on the vigilantes’ plans, and on his future. Something more than storm was up, he figured, rejecting the idea that ordinary lightning, thunder and rain could elicit so profound a response from everyone!

[In fact, the book has around fifteen ruminations and descriptions on storm in general, and through each of the ‘storms’ Bambara is subtly conveying a beautiful message to the reader, that, the storms in the lives of the people are a result of some personal hurt or trauma that they’ve been through.]

And hence, if there should be wellness in their hearts and minds, they ought to survive the storms, by all means! No spoilers though! This 1980 book is up for grabs on e-stores as well! So that’s the byline: Surviving the storms!

Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe would be our second case in point, in our discussion on ‘surviving the storm’!

The narrator, Crusoe himself, tell us, how, he had courageously withstood many storms, and mutinies on the violent sea decades back in time. However, the real test of his life had befallen him only in the year 1659 when a deadly storm had played havoc on sea and wrecked his ship. Crusoe finally finds himself marooned on the shore of a strange island! In this wretched, uninhabitable place, Crusoe had to think of various means of survival, and finally, after he had braved and survived both the literal storm at sea, and the metaphoric storm of survival in the desert land, he managed to return to England, fully well, after 28 long years.

Placing Chaaru’s Winter in this context of ‘surviving one’s storms,’ would sure make the reading more interesting, I bet!

And this claim is authenticated well enough with the epigraph to Chaaru’s book, that states, ‘The greater the tempest, the stronger you come out!’

In her authorial note that begins the book, Chaaru starts off on a conversational tone, saying,

We live in the ‘Age of Anxiety;! We have so many things to worry about and being mentally healthy is a blessing in today’s age amidst the ‘hazards of modern life’ – anxiety, depression, panic attacks and insomnia’

Later on, she has a note for the reader, when she asks,

Have you thought about getting out of the storm, stronger and smarter?

Then this book is for you!

When autumn strikes, we need to be prepared for the winter, the storms, the floods and the dark clouds – the season of mist. Our life goes through seasons too!

Chaaru ends her prefatory on a positive high, by quipping,

Let’s grow art out of all the holes left in our hearts.

On an added note, Chaaru has another interesting tagline to her profile – A caffeine addict! And well, this pure love for coffee seems to adorn quite a few of her 63 wonderful poems as well! Be it a passing reference to a coffee cup, a coffee shop, or just a cuppa coffee! It’s there, 'splashed' all across the pages! 

Chaaru’s lines have an amazing air of reality – a philosophical reality, that acts the trigger for finer ruminations and intense contemplations!

“… got to give it all up, the pain, the hurt, the anger and make room for lovely things to rush in and fill you full.” 

― Toni Cade Bambara, The Salt Eaters

Congratulations Chaaru!

Winter | Chaaru

Heartiest congratulations to Ms Chaaru, II MA English, MCC, on publishing her second book titled, Winter, with the reputed Emerald Publishers, Chennai, India.

Chaaru’s first novel titled, Summer was published just over a year ago, in 2018!

Well, I’ve just started reading Winter, and here’s hoping to give y’all a wonderful review to Charu’s Winter, latest by tomorrow!

Congratulations Chaaru! We are so proud of you! Keep up the spirit, and here’s wishing you all good luck and best wishes, to give us all many many more such impactful books in the years to come!

Winter will soon be available on all popular e-stores!

Literary delights and delicacies of 1988 at a glance!

1988 | In Literature 

The year 1988 has proved to be a very productive year in terms of its literary output, be it in the realms of the novel, or prose, or poetry, or criticism, or on theory!

Indeed, just a cursory glance at the plethora of ‘literary delicacies’ that are available for avid bibliophiles of all hues during this year, one could only be wonder-amazed at their immense variety, their diversity and their heterogeneity.

This post intends to highlight a few of the important literary accomplishments of the year 1988! This said, however, the list for 1988 is by no means exhaustive at all! Readers could always look up an authentic encyclopedia, to watch out for more literary delicacies that happened this particular year!

To begin with, it was in the year 1988 that Czech-born French writer Milan Kundera’s The Art of the Novel was published.

Well, Milan Kundera’s name and fame rests on his amazing literary feats, some of which have been discussed in our past posts HERE and HERE.

Nobel laureate and Pulitzer winner Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved was also published this year, in 1988.

Australian novelist Peter Carey’s famed novel titled Oscar and Lucinda, was awarded the Booker Prize this year in 1988. In fact, he also has the added honour of being one of the four writers to have won the Booker Prize two times! (A prospective contender for the Nobel too!)

Pakistani novelist of Gujarati Parsi descent, who is now settled in the US, Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel titled, Ice-Candy Man, based on the partition of Indian Sub-continent, was also published this year, in 1988.

Eminent Italian novelist, semiotician and professor Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum was also published this year, in 1988.

Booker winner, Salman Rushdie’s highly controversial fourth novel titled, The Satanic Verses was also published this year, in 1988.

Eminent Japanese-born British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel titled, The Remains of the Day and popular British novelist Roald Dahl’s Matilda were also published this very year, in 1988.

Famed Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist was also published this year, in 1988.

'How the world sees you will make only a small difference to you, but how you see yourself will make all the difference to you.'

On Making the Most of MYSELF | Emerson, Osho and Mahatria Ra 

Well, this post happened, thanks to a beautiful 'dp' template that i chanced upon, from off my cussy paapa’s profile picture, that i guess, sure proves such an invigorating tonic and a motivational shot for all of us to live by! Added, she has such a unique way of artistically designing beautiful 'display picture' templates that sync so beautifully with these wisened power-quotes!  More power to paapa! :-)

The quote again  for us all - 

“Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.”

Made me ruminate much and do a profound ponder on the intensity and impact of this lovable quote!

This was the question that popped up so spontaneously and impulsively on me!

Do I make the most of myself?

Or

Do i make the worst of myself? by whiling away all my precious time, my precious resources, my precious hours, my precious days, my precious weeks, my precious months, my precious years, my precious money, my precious study time, my precious work-time, in the busy-idle company of vain, frivolous, good-for-nothing, time-passing, gossiping minds, or else on vain social networking sites, frittering away my individuality, my self-hood, my power, my time and my strength, that results in making the ‘worst’ of myself, when I have to be making the ‘most’ of myself?

Indeed, the famous Emersonian essay on “Self-Reliance” begins with a wonderful Latin quotation which goes thus: “Do not seek for things outside yourself.”

What a beautiful way of asking a person to celebrate a sense of ‘Self’ or have the 'courage to be yourself!

“Trust thyself” he says, and continues, “every heart vibrates to that iron string.”

An amazing thought, ain't it?

“The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude,” Emerson adds!

An individual hence becomes powerful or extraordinary, just by tapping into his or her inner strength, and not the other way round! Strong individuals make up a strong society, says Emerson, and adds to say that, this strong individual is a result of one’s strong, personal truths and convictions!

He also adds to say that, conformity is the most dangerous pathway that is anathema to the individual truth, and hence, “for non-conformity, the world whips you with its displeasure.”

It is in this context that Emerson gives out his most famous line ever: “To be great is to be misunderstood”, which means to infer that, to be great is to think beyond all previous boundaries of thought, or in the Ulyssean dictum, ‘To sail beyond the sunset, beyond the utmost bounds of human thought,’ something that would unnerve and give much unease to mediocre thinkers of all hues!

Using this wonderful aphorism of Emerson, that advocates believing in ourselves, or in celebrating ourselves, let us now go ahead and look at some literary allusions to augment the claims of Emerson!

First and foremost, let’s turn to eminent Indian spiritual guru Osho who talks about the three stages or steps in freedom, in his amazing read titled, Freedom: The Courage to Be Yourself!

The first stage of freedom is called a “freedom from,” a freedom that one receives by breaking free of the immense ‘psychological slavery’ that is forced and conditioned upon oneself by outside forces such as friends, parents, society or religion!

The second stage of freedom is called a “freedom for,” a positive freedom that one receives by embracing something and/or creating something: something like a fulfilling relationship, or focusing on some noble artistic or humanitarian vision.

And finally, there is the third stage of freedom that he calls, “just freedom,” which according to Osho is the highest and ultimate form of freedom. This freedom is much more than ‘being for’ or ‘being against’ something! It is the freedom one inherits simply by being oneself!

And this is exactly the type of freedom that Emerson advocates in his groundbreaking essay, ‘Self-reliance’!

Something akin to what Mahatria Ra, advocates in his series of motivational discourses! 

Giving y’all snippety-excerpts from his awesome discourse on ‘Being yourself’!

Mahatria Ra speaks -  

Only if you enjoy a good relationship with yourself, you can enjoy a good relationship with others. If you are too critical about yourself, if you have a complex about yourself, if you keep thinking ‘I am not good enough’, if you constantly feel low about yourself in the presence of others… when your own relationship with yourself is lousy, there is no way you can enjoy a good relationship with others.

The 'Inadequacies of Elitist Historiography!'

Notes on the Subaltern | Gramsci, Guha & Gayatri Spivak

Although the term ‘Subaltern’ was coined by Antonio Gramsci, as a method of intellectual discourse that identifies with social groups that have been excluded and/or displaced from the so-called ‘dominant centre,’ Ranajit Guha brought the term to greater prominence in the Indian context, advocating the need to formulate a ‘new narrative’, a narrative that would help reclaim the histories and the voices of the subjugated, marginalized classes!

In his prefatorial remarks to his remarkable compendium on Subaltern Studies I: Writings on South Asian History and Society, [writing from Canberra, in August 1981,] Guha informs the reader of the need to ‘rectify the elitist bias characteristic of much research and academic work’ in the field of subaltern studies, with special reference to history and society, which he feels, have always been complicit in the subaltern condition.

This edited volume contains scholarly articles from David Arnold, Partha Chatterjee, David Hardiman, Gyan Pandey, Shahid Amin and Ranajit Guha, the editor himself!

Ranajit Guha’s opening article titled, “On Some Aspects of the Historiography of Colonial India”, advocates a sixteen point plan that doubles up as a ‘strategy’ when  one studies the historiography of Colonial India, since he strongly feels that, the historiography of colonial India has almost always been dominated by elitism, colonial elitism, and bourgeois-nationalist elitism. This ‘inadequacy of elitist historiography’ is hence described by Guha as ‘un-historical historiography’!

This ‘sixteen point charter’ of Guha reminds us of Gramsci’s ‘six point plan’ for studying the history of the subaltern classes, which he outlines in his ‘Notes on Italian history’ (1934—35).

Moreover, this series in Subaltern Studies, in six volumes, (there were twelve in total, Guha having edited the first six of them!), has a wide range of essays pertaining to society, politics, economics, sociology and the history of subalterneity!

Although Guha had given us a structured rubric for the term ‘subaltern,’ it was Gayatri Spivak who, much later, in 1988, made the term quite accessible to academia worldwide. To begin with, Spivak had words of encomium and appreciation on Guha’s subalternist research venture, but at the same time, she minced no words in pointing out the overt male bias in their hitherto existing subalternist research, as almost every member of the Subaltern Studies collective was a male, and hence she felt that real life experiences of subaltern women were conveniently sidelined, sidestepped or even ignored in the process!

'A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately happy!'

On Motivation, Maslow and Self-actualisation!

The year 1954 has been such a productive year for all of literature! Indeed the literary output of this year has an amazing varicoloured potpourri of such diverse genres to its litty-kitty!

Some of the hot favourites in literature who’ve given us some endearing reads during the course of this flourishing year in literature, include, Kingsley Amis, who published his first novel titled, Lucky Jim, this year [1954].

Famed Irish novelist and Winner of the Booker Prize, Iris Murdoch’s Under the Net was also published this self-same year [1954].

The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien, saw its publication spree starting only from 1954 on!

Interestingly, Nobel Laureate William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies was also published this very year, in 1954.

Simone de Beauvoir’s famed roman-à-clef titled The Mandarins, in which her long-time partner Sartre and her friend Albert Camus adorn the novel with such curiously intriguing, invented names in the guise of Robert Dubreuilh and Henri Perron respectively, was also published this year, in 1954. So what is the invented name of Simone de Beauvoir, you may ask? No points for guessing! It’s another Dubreuilh, named, Anne Dubreuilh!

1954 also saw renowned Japanese director Akira Kurosawa giving us his epic samurai drama film titled, Seven Samurai! More on Akira Kurosawa on our past post HERE.

It’s quite interesting to note that, celebrated Booker awardee Kazuo Ishiguro was also born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1954.

Eminent Oxford academic and novelist C. S. Lewis had also come up with his phenomenal intellectual treatise titled, English Literature in the 16^th Century during the same year, in 1954. [Added, his scholarly work on Milton titled A Preface to Paradise Lost is one of the most indispensable reference books on Paradise Lost till date!]

On the home front, Kamala Markandaya’s Nectar in a Sieve, her first published novel, which went on to be published in more than 18 languages worldwide, and became a quick best seller on the international arena, was also published this year, in 1954.

Yukio Mishima’s gripping novel titled, The Sound of Waves also saw publication, this year, in 1954. A preview to Yukio Mishima HERE on our same past post as well!

Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s favourite memoir of all time, from Peter Abrahams, titled, Tell Freedom was also published this year, in 1954.

[Well, on an aside, Thiong’o had once particularly singled out three marvelous and impactful works that have had a great influence on him. They are, George Lamming’s In the Castle of My Skin (1953), Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) and Peter Abrahams’ Tell Freedom (1954).]

Nigerian writer, Amos Tutuola, whose stories were almost always based on the Yoruba folk-tales, also published his My Life in the Bush of Ghosts an autobiographical novel in this very year, in 1954.

This apart, what gives this post an added wide-eyed coverage is the fact that, Maslow’s famed book on Motivation titled, Motivation and Personality was also published this year, in 1954. The germ of the book was originally published as a paper, almost a decade back in the famed Psychological Review.

This Maslow masterpiece of 1954 is much credited with popularizing the term, self-actualisation which has shot to prominence today in the fields of psychology, literature and related research.

Well, self-actualisation is defined as a person's desire to use all their abilities to achieve and be everything that they possibly can. It is also defined as ‘the psychological process aimed at maximizing the use of a person’s abilities and resources.’

One reason why self-actualisation tops the charts, and is on the highest level on Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs!

'If we are to have a rich and full life in which all are to share, our communal, spiritual and intellectual life must be distinctly higher than elsewhere!'

On Motivation, Truslow Adams and the American Dream

"Lincoln was not great because he was born in a log cabin, but because he got out of it ‑ that is, because he rose above the poverty, ignorance, lack of ambition, shiftlessness of character, contentment with mean things and low aims which kept so many thousands in the huts where they were born." - Truslow Adams

Motivation per se has been a great key to unlocking the power, the potential and the competence innate within anyone, anywhere, anytime! And that’s one reason, why teachers, professors and mentors all over the world, tell their wards to keep far far away from negative, pessimistic minds, minds who sincerely take upon themselves the task of moan, mutter and murmur, grumble, groan and growl, minds who always whine and whine, and in the process never see for themselves, the brighter, better things there are to life! These are people who will never have a word of appreciation or motivation for you anytime! And if you would observe hard, these are the very same people who would take the first stone or the first cudgel at you, or to throw eggs or rotten tomatoes at you, or to criticize you when you fumble or fall even a wee bit! That’s because, these minds are such bigoted minds, and utterly unmotivated minds, who wallow willfully in their pavapetta pessimism, and wish to remain so, all through their bitter, back-biting lives!

The vibrant, cheerful and motivated souls, on the other hand, ain’t ever bitter, but always make us feel better with their sweet lives for ensamples! And to be surrounded by positive, motivated and committed souls makes such a huge difference to our own kutty sweet lives on this planet, ain’t it?

And well, history has been host to a huge array of such motivated, positive and successful people down the ages, who have found such intense motivation in great leaders who’ve been able and noble visionaries themselves!

Benjamin Franklin (or Benji,) is one such visionary, whom I so respect, admire and adore, a visionary who is credited with having come up the ladder of success in his life, having started off on his noble path to success, with just a lone bread roll in hand, and utterly, totally penniless when he landed in Philadelphia in days past, as a poor, jobless youth!

He is also said to be one of the best exemplars to the ideals stated in the American Dream! As he himself tells us, he's lived his life according to an array of 13 rock-solid virtues that he firmly believed would lead him to great success.

Just a chosen few, among the many Virtues that he practiced are,

1. The Virtue of Temperance: Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

2. The Virtue of Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

3. The Virtue of Order: Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

4. The Virtue of Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

5. The Virtue of Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

6. The Virtue of Industry: Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

7. The Virtue of Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. The Virtue of Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. The Virtue of Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.

10. Tranquillity: Be not disturbed at trifles. (if you hadn’t originally started the fire!) ;-)

What invigorating precepts and ideals to live by! To me, by far, Benji is one of the noblest human beings ever to have blessed this planet with his sweet presence, sweeter living and sweetest precepts!

And Benji’s Autobiography is such an awe-inspiring testimony not only to these virtuous ideals but also to the tenets of the American Dream!

Well, then, that takes us next to the American Dream!

James Truslow Adams, as we all know, has been originally credited with coining this famous term, American Dream in his 1931 book The Epic of America, a motivational book that seeks to highlight the philosophic vision of America in all its grandeur.

On the realities of migration, climate and technology...

'... Ghosh takes us into a world where desperate refugees trickle through borders like water from melting ice, but where massing animals find no escapes. This important novel is an account of our current world, the one few writers have had the courage to face'

- Annie Proulx

Get your copy of Gun Island signed by Amitav Ghosh this evening!

STARMARK and Penguin are hosting the signing event of the book Gun Island by Mr. Amitav Ghosh.

20th June, 2019 | 5. 30 pm | Express Avenue Mall, Chennai

PS: For those of y'all who long to listen to snippets from Gun Island read out by the author himself, even months ahead of its grand release, you may click on this YouTube link HERE. I couldn't upload the full video here. Here's hoping to do it asap!