Journalist, novelist and intellectual Carlo Pizzati tries to make sense of our fast-moving times and advocates an in-depth study of events around us whose significance may be lost in the cacophony of instant judgments. By Team Viva
Italian journalist and novelist Carlo Pizzati paused a little in these frenetically digital times, where an information overload seems to cause more of a brain fuzz, jotted down major events and movements in a post-globalised world and then processed them to understand what they meant to each of us.
launching his new non-fiction book, The Edge of an Era, last week, the author talked about the return of barbarism, the threat to cosmopolitan identity, the rise of nationalism, the many failures of globalisation, the increasing challenges of technology and the crisis of the neo-liberal elite and its relevance in today’s world.
Carlo marshalled his considerable experience and literary wit to place our present from a known perspective. To do so, he sought out three important thinkers — the public intellectual essayist and novelist, Pankaj Mishra, the Harvard critical theorist, Homi Bhabha, and the political theorist John Grey. This book is a collection of his conversations with them which triggers a better sense and understanding of our times.
“I first thought of interviewing three different intellectuals and spontaneously discuss different topics. Then I realised that they actually composed a whole group that looked at similar topics with different points of view. These topics were globalisation, failure of the elite, new barbarism, racism and how we are changing our society with interruption of technology. So, then I saw that the different aspects created a common disperse,” said Carlo.
He also shared his relation with the three people whose conversations have been mentioned in the book. “Out of the three people I interviewed in the book, I knew Pankaj Mishra from before. We have discussed about a lot of issues in the past which made it easier for both of us to open up a bit more. I met Homi Bhabha in Venice last year. With him, I discussed about cosmopolitan concerns that were perfect topics for the issue I wanted to magnify in my book. We met in a bar and he was very affable and intelligent. We were both feeling the excitement of the conversation and we just couldn’t stop as it’s the pleasure of the sarcastic dialogues that pours in a lot of knowledge which both of us absolutely love. And the third person is John Grey. I have read a lot of his books and find them very stimulating. He is both an enthusiastic reader and writer.”
Over a career that has spanned 30 years as a journalist, a documentary film maker, novelist and writer, Carlo has also dabbled in screenplays and lectured in universities across the world on communication theory.
Having reported from New York, Madrid and various other places, he now lives near a fishing village in Tamil Nadu from where he writes features for newspapers and portals. Whether a love story or an essay on politics of Kashmir, Carlo engages with the pressing questions of our time. These include the promise and failure of trans-nationalism, the past bearing on the present, the relationship between identity and nationality and between technological advances and spirituality. He observed that there was an air of presumptuous optimism and a pretence of objectivity.
The author said, “The global trends interest India a lot. The younger generation here is more interested in foreign news, like if Trump stops visa, how will it impact the youths in India who want to work and study there. We learn that middle class families seem to be holding up the rolldown effects of GST in the next six months. The Western markets seem ‘okay’ after Trump has come up. The other global trends that interest Indians are issues related to the seas of China ad Pakistan. Youngsters are going beyond their micro concerns and looking at the big picture. So my kind of book is relevant because it’s about international trends affecting Indian markets and life.”
Talking about the loss of identity among those migrating to metro cities, Carlo believes in making it a central debate and not just a morbid issue of suicide. “I empathise with it because I myself live in a fishing village in Tamil Nadu. How can you convince someone to stay in a place that’s entirely alien to his being and valuesIJ The dreams of transformative impact sold by the media and TV showing winners from small towns are definitely tempting but I believe there is a lot of strength in rural areas. There should be investment in the rural economy, not the wrong kind like for coal plants which are damaging the environment but sustainable farming. Both politicians and intellectuals must come forward and talk about it”, he added.
Talking about the relation between triple talaq and barbarism, Carlo said, “Most of the discussion is about the process of divorce. After triple talaq, there is also another rule which says if you want to re-marry the man, the wife has to marry someone else and get talaq before she can come back. Basically all this means is if you want to divorce someone, you ought to be very serious. Discussing issues and then finding a solution is how one should go about instead of saying triple talaq is barbaric. Of course, there are various sides to this which I might not agree with but before judging, it’s important for a person to go in depth. I don’t know much about the Quran and Islamic culture to judge whether it’s barbaric or has some meaning within cultures where Islam developed.”
In Venice, Bhabha skillfully analyses the common threats to rational thinking given the recent destructive events in the Western world. In a house facing the Bay of Bengal, Mishra traces the role every sentiment against the status war has played in European and Asian politics. John Grey in Mumbai wonders whether liberal civilisation really learns from contemporary events, observing that history doesn’t have an arc or direction but is instead driven mostly by hum and folly.
The author begins by moving between the night of November 8, 2016 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation, Donald Trump’s election as US President and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
“Readers can expect a heavy, academic, intense, very rich book which will force them to slow down, turn off the wifi, take out the pen and make a note which will provide a lot of ideas which will be much more than one can think would be resent in those 80 pages in the book. In the conversation, there are stimulating areas that make you look at world in a different way”, said Carlo. Also, this book is launched digitally and not in physical form. People will have to visit the Juggernaut website and download the book on their gadgets.
Photo: MD Meharban