Monday, April 19, 2010
A First Pager...
So I have a comment about the first page of this novel. Immediately, I really enjoy the way Chatterjee uses the opening paragraph to set a dark and lethargic scene. By the end of the first paragraph, the reader has already been introduced to (what appears to be) a very important aspect of the story: marijuana. The drug and its effects may prove to signify nothing more than Agastya's coping mechanism with the world that he finds to be colorless (without, of course, a little self-improvement), but it is useful in creating the jaded tone that pervades the story's opening. Anyway, marijuana was not supposed to be the topic of this post. My interest in the first page is centered on the issue of language. I'm quickly learning that if you are going to enter into the Indo-Anglian writing tradition, discussing the complexities of linguistic meshing, straying, and translating in India is vital. On the bottom of the first page, Dhrubo and Agastya are laughingly discussing the phrase "hazaar fucked." Ddrubo throws out this assumption when wondering just how well Agastya is going to adjust to his new job in the hinterland town of Madna. Agastya jokes with Dhrubo about using the phrase "hazaar fucked." He muses at the ridiculous combination of Urdu and American dialects that Dhrubo employs. At this point in the narrative, the reader has yet to discover that Agastya has always been ridiculed for his "mother tongue, " or ability to speak English natively. Similar to that of Animal's People and The White Tiger, the concept of language use in Inida has already been placed in the foreground of this narrative.
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The issue of language is an interesting one as Chatterjee seems to play with it significantly less than say roy or sinha. Language in this novel appears as more of a disorienting/ alienating trope. August's ability to speak several languages including english at once defines his character, yet the language of Madna, the local dialect, is alien to him. We see communication in status as well as in alienation, in both ways describing him, his background and his present humorous bewilderment.
ReplyDeleteYou definitely bring up a good point about Agastya's character and how it relates to the languages he can and cannot speak. We continually find Agastya feeling as though he is an outsider; whether it be with language or appearance, education or upbringing, his considerations are often self-alienating. He seems to envy and ridicule simultaneously, leaving me with no clear sense of what it is he actually desires. There is herb and masturbation, but can that really be all that you need Agastya?
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