Regional literature versus IWE

In the last couple of posts, we saw authenticity (call it realism or genuineness if you will) as a millstone that IWE has to carry around its neck wherever it goes. We also touched upon a few topics with authenticity at the heart of the issue : regional or vernacular writing v/s IWE (the topic of the current discussion), Indian IWE v/s NRI IWE writer, and what is authenticity actually.

It looks like there has to be a "versus" in the relationship between regional writing and IWE. Using an innocent conjunction like "and" would probably give an incorrect picture. To reiterate our conclusions from previous discussions, the English language enjoys (or suffers) a different status with respect to India's regional languages. And that different status is primarily due to the none-too-flattering inter-related tags of colonialism and elitism.

This otherness of English creates a state of friction instead of cohesion in the body of Indian writing as a whole. We are compelled to say "Indian Writing in English", but we sound ridiculous saying "Indian Writing in Hindi or Bengali". The status of these regional languages as Indian is unquestionable, while that of English continues to be questioned (mostly in nationalist rhetoric. Practically, English seems to be entrenched firmly in India for a long, long time to come.)

Officially, India has twenty-odd recognized national languages which more or less map to individual states (whether dividing the nation into states on a linguistic basis was a sound idea is an argument that has kept many a people awake all night). There are around 2000 dialects, so talking about literatures in terms of dialects is absurd. Regional literature thus refers to writing in those twenty-odd national languages.

From the perspective of regional writers, their writing is rooted to Indian realities, and hence much more authentic when compared to IWE. Their problems are essentially Indian, the settings Indian, and their characters talk in the same language as they would if they were real. Their works (many serialized through periodicials) are immediately accessible and open to appraisal by readers who can judge its authenticity at once (and thus decide a writer's success).

This claim of regional writers is irrefutable. IWE, as we saw, is twice-born fiction, while vernacular writing is once-born. There's not much an IWE writer can do setting things right here because this weakness is inherent in IWE; it's bigger than an individual writer.

The other charge of regional writers against IWE is that the big money and publicity accompanying English writing is strangling regional writing. Glamour and limelight is the lot of the IWE writer (underservedly), while obscurity (except within a state) and almost no money to speak of is the fate of the regional writer. (If writing is an art and has nothing to do with material success, then regional writers have nothing to complain of on this count!)

This again is a charge IWE writers can't do much about (apart from refusing his share of fame, which doesn't really help anyone). Publicity and big money come to an IWE writer only if he is backed by a reputed publishing house in the US/UK. Those IWE writers depending on only an Indian readership hardly earn anything as the English readership in India is minuscule (a sale of 5000 copies implies a bestseller). The big numbers (and money) come from a worldwide readership.

For the regional writers, their readership starts and ends with the people who speak that particular language: geographically limited to one or a few states of India at the most. There are simply are not enough numbers that can bring about big money-publicity-glamour et al.

IWE writers bristle at the accusation that they are not authentic enough, but the range of Indian subjects they can portray realistically is limited. Some IWE writers like Rushdie dismiss vernacular literature as having little value and widen the chasm between the two bodies.

As both the charges--lack of authenticity and profusion of wealth and fame in IWE--don't have a feasible solution (at least I can't think of any... unless India becomes an English-speaking country, or regional languages gain a worldwide readership), the chasm is likely to remain. It is unlikely that both IWE and regional literature will be clubbed in a seamless category of Indian literature. IWE will continue to be looked upon as a bastard child of Indian literature (regional literature being the legitimate offspring), a wealthy, pompous and snobbish bastard at that.