1,500 words Can Goan Writers Make It Globally?
By Victor Rangel-Ribeiro When Frederick Noronha asked me to address the question whether Goan writers could make it globally, I thought the answer was self-evident: if writers from other parts of the world can make it, so can Goans. But then, "making it globally" sounds like a very tall order; how many writers have really reached the far corners of the earth, if we leave out that Biblical team, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? If we now ask instead whether Goan writers can make it internationally, the outlook is rosier. Some of us have already attained that goal to a modest degree. Dom Moraes has, as a poet; Teotonio de Souza has, as historian and researcher; and the chances are that editor and columnist Margaret Mascarenhas, whose second novel is being handled by a high-powered American agent enthusiastic about her work, will soon be even better known in the United States than she is here. Three individuals have achieved success in quite distinct areas of endeavour. Others who are known overseas include novelist and short story writer Lino Leitao in Canada, and the young Ms. Peres da Costa in Australia. To these we could add some who write in Portuguese, the most eminent being Orlando da Costa, whose novels and plays---largely about Goa---have for decades been acclaimed throughout the Portuguese-speaking world. Still, even with these additional names, there are too few of us. How could there be more, when only a handful of us are competing in the international marketplace? Konkani, Marathi Writers Neglected ---------------------------------- That situation would change through translation, because we who write in English and Portuguese represent only the small tip of a very large iceberg. The submerged mass consists of the vast literature in Konkani and Marathi produced by such eminent writers as Laxmanrao and Manohar Rai Sardessai, Chandrakant Keni, Udhay Bhembre, Damodar Mauzo, B. B. Borkar, Vishnu Vagh, Kiran Budkuley, Mahabaleshwar Sail, and Pundalik Naik. Some have devoted their lives to their art; yet, the world is quite unaware of their writings. A pioneering effort at drawing attention to this literature came in 1998, when the poet and editor Manohar Shetty put together a collection called Ferry Crossings that included more than a dozen translations from Konkani and Marathi. Katha in New Delhi has also published Konkani stories in English translation. Oxford followed in 2002, with Pundalik Naik's short novel Acchev; the National Book Trust in 2003, with Mahabaleshwar Sail's Kali Ganga; and the Sahitya Academy probably will later this year with Damodar Mauzo's Carmelin. All three works were translated by Vidya Pai. Mr. Mauzo's short story collection, Bhurgim Mhugelim Tim, translated by Xavier Cota, will soon be looking for a publisher. Perhaps in time this trickle of published translations will turn into a torrent. Our Writers Need Training, Nurturing ------------------------------------ The myth persists that writers are born, not made. That may have been true in the pioneering days of the eighteenth century, but in our own time the art of story telling has made tremendous strides with the development of professional writing schools in the West. Faced with such competition, our writers today not only need to be trained in their craft, but the training must begin early. Consider a sports analogy. Sprinters in Goa, no matter how talented, could not hope to make it to the Olympics unless, at every step of their developing career, a coach were at hand, providing expert training and guidance, helping them train, working on technique, speed, and stamina. Writing, like sprinting, involves technique that must be learned. And even when we have mastered it, we writers must work hard at our craft, writing and revising sometimes ten hours a day. Writing like a diamond must be polished to brilliance.. Like so many of my generation, I learned the rudiments of writing in school, from teachers at the Mater Dei Institution at Saligao. At St. Xavier's College in Bombay, eleven fellow-students and I then established a writing group called the ChesterBelloc Club and published a typewritten fortnightly magazine. Five developed successful writing careers: John Correia Afonso became a noted historian; Carmen De Souza Kagal, a journalist; Gerson da Cunha, advertising executive, published poet, and theatre personality; Violet Dias Lannoy, a novelist; I myself ventured into both musicology and fiction. For five out of twelve to achieve success in so varied a manner, our group must have been doing something right. With generous praise it encouraged us to write even more than we normally would have; through constructive critiques it forced us to re-examine what we had written, and taught us the value of analysis and revision. We learned discipline. We even learned to accept the fact that nothing we professionals write is ever perfect; not on the first try, not even on the twentieth. Which is why, at every creative writing workshop I have ever given, I have urged participants to form writers' groups as one way of getting ahead. Bookstores Are Shortchanging Goan Writers ----------------------------------------- A writer needs to write daily, but a writer also needs to be read. For our books to get into our readers' hands and homes; they must be bought. To be bought, they must be available. To be available, they must be published. Once they are published, they must be distributed. Once distributed, our bookstores must stock them. Let's examine how the system works in Goa. Having read in New York in 2002 that Mr. Naik's novel had been published in New Delhi. I was anxious to get it; so the day after my wife and I flew into Goa that November, I visited three bookstores, looking for a copy of this groundbreaking publication. At one, a clerk was quite puzzled. "Pundalik Naik? Who is he?" the man wanted to know. I was puzzled in turn. How could it be that two Goans who lived in far-off New York knew about Pundalik Naik, but a clerk in a big bookstore in a major city in Goa knew nothing about him? "Only by title I will find it for you," a clerk said at another store. I mentioned The Upheaval. No result. Then I asked for Acchev. I also asked for Carmelin. "We don't sell Konkani books," he replied. I then looked in Panjim and in Mapusa for places that sold books in Konkani. I was told there were none. However, some stores that do not sell books in Konkani still promote Goan authors. The Other India Bookstore in Mapusa is a shining example; I have never walked out of there without an armful of books by authors from Goa and other parts of India. Book Fair at the Mandovi also carries a great many books by local writers despite having very limited space. But what shall we say of those larger stores in Panjim and elsewhere, with far more space at their disposal, whose shelves are loaded only with the drivel produced by Danielle Steele and other mass-marketed authors? In this lies their shame, and ours. New Group Formed to Help ------------------------ The problems that Goan authors face were discussed on the internet late last year by several who live overseas, including Ben Antao, Rene Barreto, Lino Leitao, Benegal Pereira, and others including myself. In January, Rene, ever the activist, urged me to call a meeting in Panjim; nine of us met at the Mandovi Hotel on January 21. Present were Rene Barreto, from the UK; Tony Gonsalves, UK and Portugal; Mario Viegas (publisher) and his wife Irondina Gomes Matias Viegas (poet), Portugal; Mel D'Souza (illustrator), Canada; Margaret Mascarenhas (novelist), Oscar Noronha (translator), and Manohar Shetty (poet and editor), Goa; and my wife Lea and I, from New York. An hour or so into a very spirited discussion, the Goan International Writers Workshop was born, endorsed by all those present. The Workshop's aim will be to promote Goan writing internationally, by serving as an advisory group to new and established authors, and also by providing information regarding overseas agents, publishing contracts, etc. It will also encourage Goan Associations overseas to establish libraries of books by Goan authors, based on a master list supplied by members. A website being established will facilitate networking. Other encouraging trends have emerged. Fernando Noronha's recently established press in Panjim, Third Millennium, has published its first five fiction and nonfiction volumes already, all by Goan authors. In Mapusa, Claude Alvares's Other India Press, which has long published nonfiction, is now becoming interested in publishing Goan fiction as well. The presses are ready; the hunt for good manuscripts will soon be on. -- Victor Rangel-Ribeiro's novel Tivolem won the Milkweed National Fiction Prize in the U. S. in 1998, was shortlisted for India's Crossword Prize, and named by the American publication Booklist as one of twenty notable first novels of the year. Rangel-Ribeiro's scholarly books on Western music have won praise from Yehudi Menuhin and other prominent musicians. His latest collection of fiction, Loving Ayesha, illustrated by Mario Miranda, was published last year. ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
