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This Could Have Become Ramayan Chamar's Tale: Two Anti-Novels
Subimal Misra - anarchist, activist, anti-establishment, experimental 'anti-writer' - is a contemporary master, and among India's greatest living authors. This Could Have Become Ramayan Chamar's Tale is a novella about a tea-estate worked turned Naxalite named Ramayan Chamar, who gets arrested during a worker's strike and is beaten up and killed in custody. But every time the author attempts to write that story, reality intrudes in various forms to create a picture of a nation and society that is broken down, and where systemic inequalities are perpetuated by the middle- and upper-classes who are either indifferent or actively malignant. When Colour Is A Warning Sign goes even further in its experimentation, abandoning the barest pretence of narrative and composed entirely as a collage of vignettes, dialogue, reportage, autobiography, etc.Together these two anti-novels are a direct assault on the 'vast conspiracy of not seeing' that makes us look away from the realities of our sociopolitical order. In V. Ramaswamy's translation, they make for difficult, challenging but ultimately immensely powerful reading.
296 pages, Paperback
Published July 14, 2020
8 people are currently reading
246 people want to read
About the author
Subimal Mishra
8 books26 followersSubimal Misra is a Bengali novelist, short story writer and essayist. He is known as a maverick and audacious experimentalist in contemporary Bengali literature.
Subimal Misra started his literary career at the end of 1967. From then on, he is writing only in Bengali Little Magazines and has never penned a single word for any commercial magazine. Strong critique of the complacent and decadent bourgeoisie, his writings are starkly political. His use of calligraphy, space and visually expressive letterings gives a new dimension to his writings.
Heavily influenced by Jean-Luc Godard, Subimal Misra uses various cinematic techniques, like montage, jump-cut etc., in his literary works.
Subimal Misra started his literary career at the end of 1967. From then on, he is writing only in Bengali Little Magazines and has never penned a single word for any commercial magazine. Strong critique of the complacent and decadent bourgeoisie, his writings are starkly political. His use of calligraphy, space and visually expressive letterings gives a new dimension to his writings.
Heavily influenced by Jean-Luc Godard, Subimal Misra uses various cinematic techniques, like montage, jump-cut etc., in his literary works.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
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April 10, 2020 A Must Read
Subimal Misra's works are Anti-Novels in the most unpretentious sense of the word: a fierce criticism of the estabishment, of liberal, bourgeoisie 'morality', which breaks down the affectations of "fine words like elections, democracy, human rights and so on," urging the readers to recognise the duplicity of politics as we know it, and of intellectualism — of all isms. It proclaims:
This is a provocative book, an intensely anarchist one, and; as the blurb says; "a direct assault on 'the vast conspiracy of not seeing' that makes us look away from the realities of our socio-political order."
Subimal Misra's works are Anti-Novels in the most unpretentious sense of the word: a fierce criticism of the estabishment, of liberal, bourgeoisie 'morality', which breaks down the affectations of "fine words like elections, democracy, human rights and so on," urging the readers to recognise the duplicity of politics as we know it, and of intellectualism — of all isms. It proclaims:
What have you done with your science? What have you done with your humanism? Where is your dignity as a thinking reader?Indeed: what have we done? Why haven't we?
This is a provocative book, an intensely anarchist one, and; as the blurb says; "a direct assault on 'the vast conspiracy of not seeing' that makes us look away from the realities of our socio-political order."
May 24, 2020
This Could Have Become Ramayan Chamar’s Tale by Subimal Misra, translated by V. Ramaswamy, is that book that breaks the scale.
Written almost 40 years ago in Bengali literature and only recently translated into English, this book is an epitome of Post-modernist writing in non- English languages. This is by no means an easy book. If you are looking for that straight fiction, skip this.
If you are looking for a book that challenges the form of the novel, demonstrates vast erudition of contemporary politics, literary and philosophical discourse and tears both the ego of the writer as well as the reader apart, then this is your book. As the cover suggests, it could have been a book about a tea planter’s toil and death but it isn’t. By using a Derrida like technique of pastiche, Misra gives us fragments of dialogues, newspaper cutting, statistics, historical facts, reportage, all loosely building a picture of violence, greed and moral collapse in India in the 80s. When you read this 40 years later, you realise this is a writer ahead of his time. Nothing has changed.
The second novella is even more fragmented where the symbolism of a colour is the central premise but you realise at the end it is the voice of a writer trying to challenge the reader, targeting our bourgeois sensibilities as well as disrupting the very form of writing.
I love, love, love this anti-novel. It reminds you of what more writers should be doing today, experimenting with form, function and giving voice to the marginalised. It’s unfortunate that a book like this does not figure in the post-Modernist canon as a glorious example of both craft and translation. It deserves that place.
I challenge you to read this book.
Written almost 40 years ago in Bengali literature and only recently translated into English, this book is an epitome of Post-modernist writing in non- English languages. This is by no means an easy book. If you are looking for that straight fiction, skip this.
If you are looking for a book that challenges the form of the novel, demonstrates vast erudition of contemporary politics, literary and philosophical discourse and tears both the ego of the writer as well as the reader apart, then this is your book. As the cover suggests, it could have been a book about a tea planter’s toil and death but it isn’t. By using a Derrida like technique of pastiche, Misra gives us fragments of dialogues, newspaper cutting, statistics, historical facts, reportage, all loosely building a picture of violence, greed and moral collapse in India in the 80s. When you read this 40 years later, you realise this is a writer ahead of his time. Nothing has changed.
The second novella is even more fragmented where the symbolism of a colour is the central premise but you realise at the end it is the voice of a writer trying to challenge the reader, targeting our bourgeois sensibilities as well as disrupting the very form of writing.
I love, love, love this anti-novel. It reminds you of what more writers should be doing today, experimenting with form, function and giving voice to the marginalised. It’s unfortunate that a book like this does not figure in the post-Modernist canon as a glorious example of both craft and translation. It deserves that place.
I challenge you to read this book.
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August 11, 2020What is one supposed to talk about when talking about the diseased shape of their own country? What purpose does a reader serve as a citizen in this tedious process of exposing and reinventing the conditions defined under the questionable category of equality and freedom? What differentiates between the reality perceived from one's choices of lifestyle and the one demanded out of survival necessity is, while both are influenced by political and social conformity, the latter is inclusively a humanitarian concern. The purpose of literature cannot simply be thrown into a distiller formed out of literary devices, genres and themes, and dismissed onto the readers. Whatever is to become of a writing is the blend of a writer's objective and a reader's attentive reception of it. To assign premeditated definition to a work is to obstruct a reader's independent opinion, deliberately leading them into the adherence of preassigned perceptions.
Two Anti-Novels is a neoteric translation of two of his anti-novels (published in 1984) by V. Ramaswamy after 35 years. Subimal Misra brings about disintegration of a reader's prejudices and comfort, their conscience to be dismembered thoroughly inside the torture chamber of the horrendous reality of a third world country dedicated to glorifying high definition images of its fabricated sense of independence. It is deliberately provocative and a quintessential postmodernist piece of work off the bounds of English literature. Strong critique of the complacent and decadent bourgeoisie, Misra's writings are starkly political and controversial.
It's the terrifying reality of the western dystopian world of Orwell's 1984. Misra shoves readers into the world of newspaper cuttings, blazing world of sex and cinema, the reality of violence, the apathy of a deadened society, monstrosity of casteism and classicism, and the absurdity of — ‘Stop shouting! The neighbouring country will hear it.' What is intolerably disturbing is its relevance even after so many years which though can be claimed as visionary, undeniably indicates the extent of the failure of power and politics in serving their purposes.
No reader leaves untainted.
Two Anti-Novels is a neoteric translation of two of his anti-novels (published in 1984) by V. Ramaswamy after 35 years. Subimal Misra brings about disintegration of a reader's prejudices and comfort, their conscience to be dismembered thoroughly inside the torture chamber of the horrendous reality of a third world country dedicated to glorifying high definition images of its fabricated sense of independence. It is deliberately provocative and a quintessential postmodernist piece of work off the bounds of English literature. Strong critique of the complacent and decadent bourgeoisie, Misra's writings are starkly political and controversial.
It's the terrifying reality of the western dystopian world of Orwell's 1984. Misra shoves readers into the world of newspaper cuttings, blazing world of sex and cinema, the reality of violence, the apathy of a deadened society, monstrosity of casteism and classicism, and the absurdity of — ‘Stop shouting! The neighbouring country will hear it.' What is intolerably disturbing is its relevance even after so many years which though can be claimed as visionary, undeniably indicates the extent of the failure of power and politics in serving their purposes.
No reader leaves untainted.
August 30, 2020
A new genre should be created for writings like these. Exceptional way of putting together a book. Also, the statements made in this book, still relevant.
August 8, 2021
"It is becoming clear that to keep the hegemony unchallenged, people's helplessness and impotence has to be ensured and perpetuated."
ATTN: POSSIBLE SPOILERS
I bought this book out of curiosity; who the hell is Ramayan Chamar?
What I discovered is so much more than that. Through his writing, Subimal captured the inconstant treatment of people of the masses (the 99%) and the 1% while people below the poverty line are nothing more than speckles of dust in the street.
Some of the topics are all-too-familiar; the shifting of blames between authority figures, how the public tend to favor sensationalism over facts and objectivity.
His writing style is not the most conventional one. Though at the end, Subimal asked us the readers 3 important questions:
"But what have you done with your science? What have you done with your humanism? Where is your dignity as a thinking reader?"
ATTN: POSSIBLE SPOILERS
I bought this book out of curiosity; who the hell is Ramayan Chamar?
What I discovered is so much more than that. Through his writing, Subimal captured the inconstant treatment of people of the masses (the 99%) and the 1% while people below the poverty line are nothing more than speckles of dust in the street.
Some of the topics are all-too-familiar; the shifting of blames between authority figures, how the public tend to favor sensationalism over facts and objectivity.
His writing style is not the most conventional one. Though at the end, Subimal asked us the readers 3 important questions:
"But what have you done with your science? What have you done with your humanism? Where is your dignity as a thinking reader?"
wont-finish
December 9, 2021DNF at 13%. I couldn't follow what was happening. There were a lot of non-English words that were left untranslated that weren't obvious from context (don't know what I would have done in a physical book without the ability to tap and hold and get definitions from the dictionary or, more frequently, Wikipedia). The style of the writing also jumped around from poetry to prose, from subject to subject, and while I was really excited to read this book, it just felt like I was lacking way too much context to be able to understand it.
Read
April 22, 2020A completely different approach to writing a novel. Not sure if it worked for me completely, but I did feel compelled at times and reflective of the mood of the book.
November 17, 2020
This is not, in some sense, a light or easy read. And yet, the discontinuous nature of it also makes it seem easy to read, it doesn't allow to latch on to a storyline but nor does it want you to.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews