Post by James on Feb 7, 2016 5:24:45 GMT
I came across this interesting article on Hindi pulp fiction on BBC Hindi. I've translated it in case anyone else here may find it of interest. Any translation mistakes are unintentional and my own. Please accept my apologies in advance. You can find the original article in Hindi here.
I can't help wishing I had easy access to these novels, though. They sound interesting! At least there are some names here to follow up on...
Pulp Fiction: It's Stigma Lessening
In English, what is called 'pulp fiction' is called 'dirty' (*lit. Laying on the grass) or 'pulp' literature in Hindi.
Although even 'pulp fiction' is not a respectable name, books released under this category in western society have already obtained a certain legitimacy. Accordingly, such books are also referred to as 'best-sellers'.
Unfortunately, this has not happened in Hindi, and here this kind of literature is regarded disdainfully. Media do not give it attention, newspapers and magazines don't talk about such books or authors.
It's not as though there wasn't a certain legitimacy accorded to such popular literature in Hindi in the past. Who can forget Devki Nandan Khatri or Gopal Ram Gahmari? Yet little by little, the Hindi literary establishment, which received the assistance of newspapers and magazines, fostered a new class system in writing.
And authors like Kushvaha Kant, Gulshan Nanda, Ranu, Colonel Ranjeet, Ibn Safi, Om Prakash Sharma, Surendra Mohan Pathak, or Vedprakash Sharma have been placed in the same ranking as 'the untouchables of Brahmin society'.
They've had hundreds of thousands of readers, and even today they do, but even in the minds of those readers there is a sense of inferiority vis à vis readers of literature. As an example (of the popularity of the genre), Surendra Mohan Pathak's Vimal series of novels on the Indian crime world is met with a general craze.
Mario Puzo's Godfather is exactly this type of work (although his canvas is much bigger), which has been endlessly discussed and has been made into films. It is even a means of understanding a stage of American culture.
But it's true that if anyone looked to Surendra Mohan Pathak's novels to try to understand the foundation of widespread crime in Indian society, she or he would not be taken seriously in Hindi society, or even in wider Indian society.
Stieg Larsson was a Swedish author. He wrote the novel, “Girl with the dragon tattoo”, and two other novels in the Millennium series. This novel series exposed contemporary Swedish society's internal divisions. There have been films made on this series of novels.
Similarly, there is a Swedish couple who write together- Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo (Wahloo has passed away). The police-centred novels written by this husband-wife duo have destroyed the myth of Sweden's superior welfare state. Contemporary Norwegian writing's Nesbo is getting quite the fanfare, as is the Japanese author Higashino.
In Hindi, the publishers of popular novels themselves don't take the genre seriously, although this point of view is gradually changing. The credit for this can even be given to some of the Indian English-language writers.
Amish Tripathi and Chetan Bhagat's novels have not only become quite famous in English, but even their Hindi translations have sold well. Speaking of Hindi popular literature, this year's book releases like Raveesh Kumar's, “Ishq mein shahar hona”, Shashikant's, “Non-resident Bihari', and Surendra Mohan Pathak's, “Crystal Lodge”, are foremost.
This year a large publisher has printed Surendra Mohan Pathak's novel, with almost the same seriousness as some great author's work would be printed. Another big publisher has started a series of popular Hindi literature.
The novels to be published in this series can't be called 'pulp fiction', but can certainly be described as popular, and the changing environment, personal dilemmas, and isolation have been recorded therein with great integrity. If there's an explosion of language/novels (of late), then somewhere or other there's an explosion of urbanisation, too. (This has happened without) an abstaining from English words (in the novels). They have been written exactly as people speak.
It would not be incorrect to say that this year in Hindi, popular literature is being seen with a new mentality, that has not just taken the freshness of the language, but is practical/experimental, and doesn't shy away from trying new things in various genres.
I can't help wishing I had easy access to these novels, though. They sound interesting! At least there are some names here to follow up on...
Pulp Fiction: It's Stigma Lessening
In English, what is called 'pulp fiction' is called 'dirty' (*lit. Laying on the grass) or 'pulp' literature in Hindi.
Although even 'pulp fiction' is not a respectable name, books released under this category in western society have already obtained a certain legitimacy. Accordingly, such books are also referred to as 'best-sellers'.
Unfortunately, this has not happened in Hindi, and here this kind of literature is regarded disdainfully. Media do not give it attention, newspapers and magazines don't talk about such books or authors.
It's not as though there wasn't a certain legitimacy accorded to such popular literature in Hindi in the past. Who can forget Devki Nandan Khatri or Gopal Ram Gahmari? Yet little by little, the Hindi literary establishment, which received the assistance of newspapers and magazines, fostered a new class system in writing.
And authors like Kushvaha Kant, Gulshan Nanda, Ranu, Colonel Ranjeet, Ibn Safi, Om Prakash Sharma, Surendra Mohan Pathak, or Vedprakash Sharma have been placed in the same ranking as 'the untouchables of Brahmin society'.
They've had hundreds of thousands of readers, and even today they do, but even in the minds of those readers there is a sense of inferiority vis à vis readers of literature. As an example (of the popularity of the genre), Surendra Mohan Pathak's Vimal series of novels on the Indian crime world is met with a general craze.
Mario Puzo's Godfather is exactly this type of work (although his canvas is much bigger), which has been endlessly discussed and has been made into films. It is even a means of understanding a stage of American culture.
But it's true that if anyone looked to Surendra Mohan Pathak's novels to try to understand the foundation of widespread crime in Indian society, she or he would not be taken seriously in Hindi society, or even in wider Indian society.
Stieg Larsson was a Swedish author. He wrote the novel, “Girl with the dragon tattoo”, and two other novels in the Millennium series. This novel series exposed contemporary Swedish society's internal divisions. There have been films made on this series of novels.
Similarly, there is a Swedish couple who write together- Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo (Wahloo has passed away). The police-centred novels written by this husband-wife duo have destroyed the myth of Sweden's superior welfare state. Contemporary Norwegian writing's Nesbo is getting quite the fanfare, as is the Japanese author Higashino.
In Hindi, the publishers of popular novels themselves don't take the genre seriously, although this point of view is gradually changing. The credit for this can even be given to some of the Indian English-language writers.
Amish Tripathi and Chetan Bhagat's novels have not only become quite famous in English, but even their Hindi translations have sold well. Speaking of Hindi popular literature, this year's book releases like Raveesh Kumar's, “Ishq mein shahar hona”, Shashikant's, “Non-resident Bihari', and Surendra Mohan Pathak's, “Crystal Lodge”, are foremost.
This year a large publisher has printed Surendra Mohan Pathak's novel, with almost the same seriousness as some great author's work would be printed. Another big publisher has started a series of popular Hindi literature.
The novels to be published in this series can't be called 'pulp fiction', but can certainly be described as popular, and the changing environment, personal dilemmas, and isolation have been recorded therein with great integrity. If there's an explosion of language/novels (of late), then somewhere or other there's an explosion of urbanisation, too. (This has happened without) an abstaining from English words (in the novels). They have been written exactly as people speak.
It would not be incorrect to say that this year in Hindi, popular literature is being seen with a new mentality, that has not just taken the freshness of the language, but is practical/experimental, and doesn't shy away from trying new things in various genres.