Literary Fiction?

Chuck, an American, lives at Sugarbush Valley with his dog Pat – apparently happy since the dog is never demanding like his wife who walked over him sometime ago. One night, after an awesome blizzard, which wreaks havoc with things and life around, he discovers a baby wrapped up in a bundle at his doorstep. He decides to keep and raise the baby to satiate his fatherhood.

This is roughly the outline of a story by an Indian author I read recently, courtesy The Statesman FESTIVAL 2002. It’s a well-written story, the author being a reputed columnist settled in USA. But what leaves me wondering is the theme of the story. Is it right, and not a bit odd and anachronistic in this age, to address something like fatherhood? Every age has its own defining characteristics, and if a writer cannot see, explore and write down about them, what is the point of writing at all, I wonder. Of course, I refer to serious fiction, not the craps – and the so-called best sellers – we come across all the time.

Or, take another story from the same source. The author, a Bengali, has a California University campus as its setting and an American woman as its main character, with whom he finds himself being gradually involved. Familiar theme but the writing is fashionable, even readable, but what you get in the end is only vacuous, shallow, and forgettable.

The third story is titled “The American Dream.” It is about an Indian woman who married a non-resident Indian working in California to fulfil her dream of taking a Ph.D.from a reputed American university, only to find that her husband was just a H1 visa holder and, and could not financially support her higher education anyway. The story, more than anything, provided info for those Indians who focus USA as their ultimate goal. And I wondered why the author did not write an article instead.

If you take a serious look at these works, some patterns emerge. Indian locales and characters are rapidly missing from these authors’ consciousness. It looks as if these are passe as themes of their fictions. It may be argued that there is nothing wrong with an Indian author writing about New York or Manhattan, and its people. But literary fiction is not like travel writing, which can be managed in a half-baked, wishy-washy fashion. It demands deep, intense and long study of people and ambience.

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