On 15 Apr, 2007, at 12:09 PM, Doug Henwood wrote:
It is interesting to note that unlike previously, when it was the
space of the exotic Other and cultural commodities which signified
this space were consumed mainly in the Western hemisphere, India is no
longer a passive node in this political economy of desire. If
Orientalism past was a manifestation of the 'Occident's' will to power
over 'the Orient', the New Orientalism rehearses the same relationship
but with a crucial difference: today the
production-circulation-consumption circuit in the case of these
cultural commodities originates and culminates in India.
So, Doug, from your previous criticism of Roy, can we assume that you
quote the above with approval since it is not written in English? One
assumes Ivy League political science programmes are offered in Urdu?
;-)
Toor's criticisms I think are mistaken on everything other than Roy's
book. The book, IMHO, did damage in more than one way: (a) it once
again exoticised India and Indian English literature. In fact giving
further excuse for such phrases as "the language of the colonialist".
Mahatma fucking Gandhi wrote in English, for crying out loud. I have
volumes of it (moth eaten but readable) in boxes back home! (b) As Toor
correctly points out, it was gratuitous both in its attempts at
violating sex/societal taboos, as in attacking the CPI.
But Roy as beautiful, in a sequence of contest beauty queens... that is
the first of the many laughs that the piece provides as consolation for
the reader struggling through the dense analysis ;-).
--ravi
