Le Clezio and Adiga

FIRST IMPRESSIONS, a discussion of the works of New Authors, was organized this evening by the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi. The authors discussed were the Nobel Laureate JEAN-MARIE GUSTAVE LE CLEZIO and the Booker Prize Winner ARAVIND ADIGA. The main Speakers on this occasion were Professor Meera Malik (of Panjab University) and Simar Onkar (of Great Books).The two writers discussed today were virtually unknown before they shot into the limelight following the prestigious awards they received. It is but natural that interested readers should be curious about their works. The Booker prize winner, who is known for his book The White Tiger, is a new entrant in the world of letters. As for the Nobel laureate, Le Clezio, even today not many of his books are available in translation.
Prof Meera Malik in her appraisal of The White Tiger spoke of the two diametrically opposite responses that Adiga has evoked among the reviewers. He has either been praised for giving expression to the till-now largely ignored working classes or dismissed for presenting a negative image of India to gain approbation from the Western audiences. She felt that it was too early to judge whether Adiga will move on from the status of a bestseller to becoming part of the canon of Indian literature in English. However, she felt that Adiga's novel was eminently readable.

Simar Onkar talked about the history and politics behind the Nobel Prize. He demystified the aura underlying the Nobel by arguing that it was Euro-centric and gender-biased. However, he felt that Le Clezio deserved the attention that he has been given, because of his cosmopolitan outlook, that has helped him explore civilizations and value systems beyond the dominant Western ones. The presentations were followed by a lively discussion.
Today's discussion was extremely informative as it was exploratory in its approach, opening up new horizons, treading upon new ground, and exploring the works of very new writers. The event was very well attended by literature enthusiasts. It was one more event in the series of literary discussions that are being conducted regularly by the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi.