Galle Literary Festival 2010 :

For whom do they hold glorious carnivals?

In last week's cultural scene, we focused on how local literary bards were excluded from the Galle Literary Festival which was held in the enchanting port city of Galle. We also focused on the fact that the organisers of the festival had paid little or no attention to Sinhalese or Tamil literati.

The notable lacuna in the entire programme was the absence of any sessions on the literary legacy of Martin Wickremasinghe and Guanadasa Amerasekara, despite the fact that some of their literary works have been translated into English. Responding to some of the questions we put to Dr Amerasekara on the Galle Literary Festival (GLF) he highlighted that it was a "glorious carnival! A carnival meant for a group of cosmopolitan novelists and writers to have a good time!" It seems that the organisers prefer to have lesser and lesser serious genres of literature such as pulp fiction.

Pulp fiction as a literary genre

It is pertinent here to inquire into the very genre of pulp fiction and its relevance in an international literary festival. It was in the 19th century the term 'pulp fiction' came into being with the mass production of pulp magazines such as Weird Tales and The Strands.

It is obvious that the kind of literature promoted by these pulp magazines was of the lowest standing in terms of literary theory and characterisation. However, those pulp magazines introduced literary works of extremely popular authors of the time such as H.G. Wells (The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, (The Lost World, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) and Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan of the Apes). In general, the crust of the pulp fiction is made up of a man in constant fight with evil forces both internally and externally and often beyond his control.

By the 20th century the pulp fiction led to the birth of a new era in literature, creating the literary genre of fantasy with mass appeal. A predominant characteristic of this mass appeal is the unprecedented popularity of works such as Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan as well as ' Lord of the Rings', 'The Lost world', 'King Kong' and Robert Rodriguez' adaptation of Edgar Rice Burrough's 'A Princess of Mars', were enjoyed by diverse audiences throughout the globe. Despite its popularity, pulp fiction can hardly be considered a classical form of literature which deals with life at a deeper level such as the literary work of Shakespeare, Chekov, Tolstoy. Dostoyevsky, James Joyce and Tagore.

GLF as a literary carnival

Over the years from its very inception, the GLF, perhaps, evolved into a literary carnival for globe trotting cosmopolitan novelists and writers who seemed to have turned the event into a cheap holiday, enjoying the sun, moon and the 'hospitality' of the nation.

However, the credentials of those cosmopolitan novelists writers are dubious and they are apt to be termed as literary show-men or literary entertainers. The venue being in and around the Galle Fort is also appropriate for such a carnival as it signifies the colonial invasion of the land and subsequent cultural dominance by the Portuguese, Dutch and English over the native cultures.

Another characteristic of almost all the cosmopolitan writers is that most of the cosmopolitan writers do not have a fixed cultural abode. In the words of Samuel Huntington, the cosmopolitan writers are cultural immigrants. In other words, they (cosmopolitan writers) are those who live at the outermost peripheries of the culture they have chosen to identify themselves with.

According to Huntington, Nobel Prize winning author V.S Naipaul is an example of such writers. Naipaul is a great advocate of the idea of a universal culture. So their literary productions can be considered as cosmopolitan and meant for universal consumption. In essence, their works are not culturally anchored and tend to represent fractured identities and generations lost in the melting pot of cultures. The deliberate exclusion of local bards smacks of neo-colonial cultural invasion in the guise of promoting tourism and literature. In fact, the literature of a land should mirror the soul of a nation. Such literature represents times we live in, political and social forces at play that determine our behaviour in that mirror.

Arguably, it moulds the heart, minds and lives of the people. However, the pulp fiction which provides cheap entertainment through titillation and escapism would take the reader away from that mirror. Once the reader became non-reflective morons, such a reading public can be easily manipulated and naturally they would be taken away from their cultural roots. Uprooting the masses from their cultural roots and anchorage is the aim of the neo-colonial cultural invasion. The aim can be achieved through such festivals in the name of literature. Although the notion of a universal culture and literature that appeals to a universal audience has been gaining ground, this notion is being challenged. However, it is a fact that writers cannot speak to the world and cannot address a universal audience.

According to critic Graham Hough, it is only the Pope and the President of the United States of America who can address the entire universe. It is a fact that all noteworthy writers address a national audience or perhaps, a significant section of a national audience. Primarily, it is that audience which is able to appreciate the literary productions and to relate and become the consumers of such artifacts. However, if the literary production has a great depth, such work should carry a universal significance. The fact that thousands of copies of books by such cosmopolitan globe trotting authors being annually sold and enjoyed a substantial market share can be attributed to the great demand for cheap titillating entertainment. It has become a flourishing industry like cheap soap-operas.

There are some instances where readers had left behind such popular novels in trains at the end of their journeys. In a way, it shows how readers care for popular novels. On the other hand, literary productions in a consumer society are a multibillion dollar industry and the process of marketing involves writers, publishers, book sellers and other stake holders associated with the literary industry. The powerful industry launches from time to time sale propaganda drives and awards such as Booker Prize is also part of a well manipulated game.

The global publishing industry is so powerful that it can make writers overnight and direct the line of thinking of the writers indirectly by setting criteria for such awards. In 'The essay in criticism' Graham Hough describes this phenomenon eloquently when he writes: "if you can employ a handful of fullbright scholars and get them to go around the world, any worthless novelist can be made into a Tolstoy or a Dostoevsky".

If the literary festival has of no relevance to Sri Lankan literature, it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs to intervene and make fair demand that there should be a space for the promotion of Sinhalese and Tamil literature in translation and also to question the rationale behind sponsoring such an event which has no benefits to Sri Lankan literature.