The second edition of the Chandigarh literature Festival (ClF), 2013 started here on Thursday. Great literature requires great criticism, to paraphrase literary theorist Terry Eagleton. The ClF, 2013 intends to be an exercise in great criticism.
“This unique format of celebrating books rather than the authors is what we have strived for,’’ said Mitul Dixit, Chairman, Adab Foundation.
The festival kicked off with a panel discussion of authors and critics on What comes first: Great writing or Great criticismIJ which was followed by an evenings with poets of Chandigarh.
Commenting on the changing reading habits of the generation next Critic Nirupama Dutta said that nowadays children are caught with the virtual world and before they are being initiated into books, they get attracted by video games.
Nirupama was here to critic the book, Manzilain-The Destinations written by Author Mahmood Shaam. She further added that, even the parents of today are not interested in reading. This in turn has an irreversible impact on the mind of the children who follow their parents.
The critic said, “Grand parents especially grandmothers used to play a pivotal role in inculcating reading habits in the mind of their grand children. It has been a trend that children in the house, at least once picked up the book that has been read by their grand mothers. But sadly the trend is vanishing in the modern social milieu.”
The fest which is an attempt to celebrate great books has not included many big names in its list. It is an attempt to celebrate Indian writing and Indian authors who are sidelined mostly during such fest, said Mitul.
“Realism as a trend and an artistic movement has always been my area of interest,” said Author Vishwajyoti Ghosh. He attended the fest to have a face to face conversation with critic Giriraj Kiradoo for his book named This Side That Side: Restoring Partition.
Ghosh said, my stories revolve around me, concretising the concept of how the writer is impacted by the happenings around him, a part of modern literature movement. Ghosh gave example of how he gets stories by narrating an anecdote related to his friend.
The author said how, one of his friend lost a mobile phone and his long ordeal of getting a complaint registered at the police station. The story revolves around his friend who ran from pillar to post to get a complaint being recorded by police, for which he had to pay bribe under the table to succeed.
The author maintained that stories flow in the air and can start anywhere, just one have to be observant to jot it down in an interesting manner. Talking about his novel This Side That Side: Restoring Partition, the author said that it is about the partition and its impact which can be seen till date in the common psyche of the people of the region.