Impressing the Whites: Questions and Answers (2000, Unedited), press conference
(Impressing the Whites has now been re-issued with updates and new appendixes on Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004VNMBLI . Please note that the following questions and answers represent my views in mid-2000, and are not identical to my present views.)
MONEY CORRUPTS SPORTS (AND POLITICS); WHY NOT LITERATURE?
Q: Why does your book suggest an Eastern Nobel Prize and an Eastern Booker, or that our obsession with prizes or with beauty contest crowns diminishes us?
A: Because prizes and money corrupt—especially foreign prizes and foreign money—more so, Western prizes and Western money. Indeed, certain writers might indeed think that the yearning for PRIZES is childish at best, and, at worst, detrimental, if not sometimes disastrous, to the integrity of the writer, and to his political independence.
You now realize how an entire country was hoodwinked by a few of its sports heroes, as it has been by its politicians. Why should you assume that its literary stars are not also? I am glad that a recent issue of India Today wakes up to the fact that Arundhati Roy has been too shrill in pleasing the West and trying to hook Western readers. We may not eliminate this corruption totally, but we might at least correct our enormous Western fixation somewhat if we had a few lucrative prizes awarded by Asian countries to Asian writers following the criteria of freedom of expression, courage, and originality.
COURAGEOUS WRITING PRIZE
Q: You suggest a prize for courageous writing by journalists and authors, but say that it will be limited to writing in the English language. Please explain this discrimination.
A: Invisible Man Books will announce details, on its website, www.imbooks.com , of a prize and an Award for a Courageous Journalist and a Courageous Author. Distinguished writers and editors are requested to nominate candidates, and the names of these candidates will be displayed at its website for some months so that the public has a chance to discuss them. At the moment, the value of the prizes will be Rs. 10000/- and Rs. 15000/- respectively, but we are looking for one or more co-sponsors who will be able to swell this prize amount dramatically, perhaps even to a few lakhs. There will also be at least five Honorable Mentions in each category.
In “Impressing the Whites”, I define “courageous” writing as writing that makes you tremble to write it, making you fear the possible wrath of society, your family, or your god--but that you will still not withhold from publication, because of your higher duty as a writer to express your truth. Courageous writing is priceless. My total expenditure on AImpressing the Whites” far outstrips my income from it at this point (mostly the advance from Singapore)--still, the book was worth writing at any cost.
Why the English language? Because I think there are many more courageous writers in the regional languages--Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, for example--than in English. Our first priority should be to rescue an endangered species.
WHY NOT PENGUIN OR HARPERCOLLINS?
THE FEAR OF BEING BANNED
Q: Your first book was published by Penguin, your second by HarperCollins? Why did you not approach a major publisher for your third book?
I did offer David Davidar of Penguin this book; he refused it unseen, asking for my next novel instead. You judge whether a major Indian publisher would have published this book uncensored. Indeed, I ask five Indian publishers to come forward and say they would have published it totally uncensored. I may sign away my rights to them right away.
Above all, I published it through Invisible Man Books because I feared the book might be banned, or prevented from reaching bookstores. I wanted to keep the manuscript secret, I didn’t want it sabotaged by some potential backstabber. Now that I have expressed myself, I don’t mind another publisher taking over the book.
The book was born out of an experience I had in Edinburgh in 1994, and the heart of this book was written in 1994, 1995, and 1996. I have lived with this book ever since then, though fearing the consequences of its publication. If I had had a commercial publisher in mind, I might have censored myself. And I didn’t want to experience post-acceptance censorship and have my message compromised, as happened with my second book. So I decided to publish it myself I was delighted that a Singapore publisher bought Southeast Asian rights within 2 days of receiving the manuscript.
WHY THIS AFFECTS JOURNALISTS
Q: Is there a special reason why IMPRESSING THE WHITES deserves to be read, discussed, reported on, and debated widely?
A: For the same reason that the cricketing scandal needs to be reported and discussed widely. If we imagine ourselves to be living in an independent country, then a suggestion--even a hesitant hypothesis--that our ruling class, our commanding heights may be in the West’s pockets, deserves serious examination--even, if possible, a refutation (I would be the happiest person if this thesis were refuted). Especially if, as I have discovered in talking to ordinary Indians, many of us believe this thesis to be an absolute truth. If many people believe something (whether or not it is “objectively” true), it becomes a sociological phenomenon that deserves examination, and a major newspaper or magazine has the responsibility of examining it. That this book does induce some “shock of recognition” even among non-Indians is suggested by the BBC New Delhi correspondent’s decision to have me on the BBC World News (he had read two-thirds of the book at that point). For this reason, I believe (and pardon my subjectivity--but that’s all I have), this book is not just bigger than its pygmy-sized author, its issues are far bigger than any individuals mentioned in it (some of whom may be your personal friends).
And I would urge journalists to popularize this book with gusto, because you and I are in the same business: freedom of expression. Without it, neither of us would exist. Even reviewers who have disagreed with my writings have praised my commitment to freedom of expression--which is stamped on every page of this book. You don’t need to promote Edward Said; he has scores of supporters and chamchas. But I, a Bangalore-born, desi writer, do need your support.
FAIR DEAL?
Q: Has your book received a fair deal yet? When will “Impressing the Whites” get the attention it deserves?
A: None of my books have received a fair deal yet, except, partially, The Revised Kama Sutra in the first few months, when it had the backing of Penguin’s editor-in-chief, and benefitted from Penguin’s white halo. If my book’s thesis is true--and I hope it is not--then, unfortunately, even the present book will only get attention from Indians when and IF it impresses the whites. If that happens, dozens of Indian journalists will fight to get interviews from me, and I will be whisked from press conference to five-star hotel in a chauffeured car. The only thing I will have to do is show up. At the moment, I even lick my own stamps.
No, there has been no serious or fair discussion of “Impressing the Whites”, my most serious book yet, and my second book was displayed in cellophane wrapping and its existence is still unknown to many.
Even P.M. VAJPAYEE must IMPRESS THE WHITES.
Q: How wide-ranging is the phenomenon of “impressing the whites”?
A: In IMPRESSING THE WHITES: The New International Slavery, I analyze the rules and the dynamics by which white and nonwhite societies behave with each other. In the process of writing and researching this book, I spoke to Indians across the spectrum, and I found a strong element of recognition of the phenomenon from Indians everywhere, particularly lower-middle and middle-middle class Indians who do not interact with white people, being NOT of the ruling class, or of the class of the urban intellectual and social elite. In the two central chapters of this thesis (“Impressing the Whites” and “The Occidental Cow”), I explain how this phenomenon is so broad it can be observed in POLITICS, FASHION, RELIGION, ACADEMICS, ECONOMICS, CONSUMPTION, AND IN SOCIAL BEHAVIOR. I introduce concepts such as “ethnic shame” and “spiritual colonialism”, which get an entire chapter each, and at least three chapters suggest remedies.
It is only because I happen to be a writer, and understand the literary arena the best, that I use comparatively more examples from literature; the phenomenon permeates nearly every aspect of our lives, including our religion. Even Chief Minister S.M. Krishna must impress the whites: whether to get Clinton to visit Bangalore (unsuccessfully) or to get a World Bank loan (successfully).
THE TWO TYPES OF WRITING
Q: What are the two types of writing by Indian writers writing in English these days?
A: PIP writing and PPL writing. The precise explanations of these terms are too juicy for me to provide here. Please read my book.
Q: Why call your publishing imprint Invisible Man Books?
A: Because my books are invisible in the bookstores. Because, after having received wide national coverage for my first book, I found that most of my readers don’t even know of the existence of my second book. But also because of my admiration for Ralph Ellison’s novel, The Invisible Man.
Q: What are your plans, after this?
A: For some more time, I will write and publish precisely the books I want to write--with no regard for the West. And then, if I still find myself alone, I may turn my attention to impressing the whites.
Q: Why do you write? Why did you write this book?
A: I don’t write with realistic expectations of becoming rich, or for large-scale adulation, or to impress the whites. I write for self-expression, catharsis, and sometimes to express the viewpoint of people I regard as Invisible. That’s my Mother Teresa, Gandhian side. I’m not a 100 percent bad boy, you know. No one can be.
Q: Some people might say, “It’s pointless getting worked up about all this. This is the way the world is; learn to live with it.”
A: Well, most people thought this way of the British Empire--that it was here to stay, that we might as well learn to live with it. And I suppose most people must, or they might go crazy. But a few individuals are created by nature to protest, to take offence, to be subversive, to demand the impossible--like James Baldwin, Mahatma Gandhi. Without comparing myself to their greatness, I see myself as cast in a similar role.
We have our different modes of protest, our different capacities. You might protest environmental pollution by refusing to use disposable razors or disposable ball point pens. I may protest by writing a book on the subject. We do what we can. To protest, to me, is to show that I am alive.
DEEPA MEHTA vs. RICHARD CRASTA
Q: Your attacks on X or Y are unfair/personal.
A: It is my style to write with satire and enthusiasm, but this style is sincere and organic to my experience, it is moved by passion, and the passion of it proceeds from what happened to me. There was nothing fair about what happened to me, for example, in the way my second book, Beauty Queens, Children and the Death of Sex was exhibited in bookstores in cellophane wrapping despite my protests. And not one person stood up for me--except perhaps one friend in Mangalore who has no voice outside that town. True, I had some wonderful reviews for my first book, and a few good ones for the second. But ultimately, when my book was squashed, for personal reasons, with both books disappearing from shelves and not being available to customers who were ordering them, almost no one stood up for me. Everyone thought of their own interests, and decided that speaking on my behalf wouldn’t be good for their careers. Where was the fight for principle in this case? Whereas to fight for the rights of Deepa Mehta, who of course fully deserves her artistic freedom, but who has powerful Western champions? That will look good on your resume, and it will impress white people: so it becomes front page news.
INVISIBLE MAN BOOKS
Q: Will Invisible Man Books publish courageous writing by other invisible writers?
A: Absolutely. Especially if it is so daring that another publisher might not want it. The press needs a full-time or part-time manager first, though, before it can look at manuscripts.
(All Richard Crasta's books on Amazon: Amazon US Page: http://amzn.to/jT56oZ )
2011 Postscript: This author needs your support for independent writing and speaking out--even if he risks being wrong at times. Please do all you can and reach out to others.
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