John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice And Men” is a text book study of the writing maxim, “Show don’t tell”. There is very little description of the characters that Steinbeck engages in, letting the characters be revealed through the situations and dialogues.
The book narrates the story of two migrant laborers, George and Lennie, who arrive at a farm to start a new job. They have apparently run away from an earlier job due to some unpleasant incident related to Lennie’s behavior. George is street-smart and loves Lennie like a brother. It emerges that Lennie is a simpleton who does not understand the ways of the world. That combined with Lennie’s extraordinary strength makes him dangerous to people around him. George tries to protect Lennie by trying to avoid any interactions between him and other people, trying to reply on behalf of Lennie, trying to keep him humored by portraying a positive picture of the future. One of the common images of the future that he paints to Lennie is owning a farm when they earn enough money. At the new farm, they build new relationships, some good some bad, and the story takes some interesting turns with the peculiarities of the two.
Steinbeck is a master storyteller, and this book is a lesson in minimalism in terms of spoon-feeding the readers. The way the characters emerge out of the dialogues is beautiful. The way situations build suspense is masterful. Over the course of the small book, the characters become people you know, and the anticipation of the unavoidable tragedy keeps one hooked to the book. I tried to read the book as an author, and I was successful in doing that many times, but invariably I got sucked into the narrative and became a reader.
Besides the characterization, Steinbeck masterfully creates the era in front of your eyes. The environment at farms, the lazy and laid-back life, the desire of the workers to break free of the slave-life life and the day dreaming that everyone enjoys, Steinbeck creates a concrete picture of each of these things, and makes it universal at the same time. The quirkiness of the supporting characters, especially Curley and his wife, makes the narrative unusual and interesting. The climax is expected and haunting at the same time.
The language is very simple and functional. Steinbeck avoids ornamental use of language. The simplicity adds to the tone of the story. It becomes the part of the narrative. I am sure this kind of simplicity requires a lot of deliberation and rework.
The morality of the book is at once clear and ambiguous. Is an action without intention morally binding on the agent? Steinbeck does not give an answer of his own. The answer from the perspective of the society is absolutely clear. Was George right in doing what he did? Again, Steinbeck is ambiguous in terms of his position. In that way, again, Steinbeck prefers “Show” vs “Tell”. The reader is left with himself to form an opinion about the actions of the agents and what they mean from a moral standpoint.
In short, it is a great book and deserves a perfect 5/5. It is a must for authors, reading to understand the craft. Your writing will change for better if you read and re-read this book.
Roger Ebert in his review of the movie, says that the movie is for people who still read good novels, care about good films and think occasionally. I would add, the movie is for people who can observe the underlying currents of life, people who are moved by subtleties, and people who know why poetry exists. Eric Rohmer is really a composer of a poem – the whole movie being a single poem – where scenes are like word play that a poet constructs and the meaning of the poem is not defined by the plot twists but observing the unobserved behind the mundane.
Jerome, a difficult role performed adroitly by Jean-Claude Brialy, is a career diplomat who is visiting Lake Annecy for a brief interlude before the execution of a major life event – his marriage. He meets – purely by chance – his old flame and a close friend Aurora, an author. Through her, Jerome gets introduced to the family of Madame Walter and her two daughters, Laura and Claire. Laura, 16, is smitten by Jerome, and Aurora observes it. She treats it as a story being developed and challenges Jerome to play along. Jerome does – observing all the limits of morality and decency. But Jerome himself is smitten by something else – Claire’s knee. It is his objective to caress Claire’s knee.
I thought to myself that every woman has her most vulnerable point. For some, it’s the nape of the neck, the waist, the hands. For Claire, in that position, in that light, it was her knee. It was the magnetic pole of my desire, the precise point where, if I could pursue this desire, I’d have placed my hand. And right there is where her boyfriend had his hand. In all his innocence and insipidness. That hand was above all insipid, and that shocked me. Claire is not the least interested in an elderly Jerome and treats him worse than a piece of furniture.
As you can guess, the plot is non existent, just like most Rohmer movies. What flows though is the character development – especially the young Laura. The interactions between her and Jerome are worth watching on big screen. Beatrice Romand, who plays Laura, is an amazing actress and manifests every emotion that Rohmer possibly had in his mind.
Rohmer plays with the questions of love, lust, fidelity, friendship, loyalty, obsession, infatuation with the help of the amazingly beautiful location with hills and a lake in the background. The dialog, the physical interaction between the characters – everything helps build the background. It is the background that matters in movies like this, the unsaid, the unmanifested. It is like the ethereal beauty of the world which lies beyond the observable world. Art has that power over human beings – it alone can show you what exists beyond the seen and the heard. Rohmer is the master in showing that and he excels leaving you with an emotion that can be described as bliss. I would give this movie a perfect 5/5, but watch it only if you like poetry or subtle stuff, else you will be bored to death. (Running on MUBI)
The Stranger, at its core, is a philosophical novel. It exemplifies Camus’ brand of philosophy, known as absurdism. It counts itself among several nihilistic philosophies that assert that there is no inherent meaning in the world, and all the attempts to seek meaning are absurd. It is when a human being understands this core reality of life, he or she receives their salvation. It is difficult to embed any philosophy in an interesting tale, interesting enough that people would read the book and take away the philosophy. In this way, Camus is similar to Ayn Rand, who also attempted to embed the philosophy of Objectivism in her books. He is equally talented but much more understated writer. Their philosophies are poles apart, but they use similar strategies to get them across to their reader and followers.
The Stranger is a tale of someone who is absolutely unaffected by most emotional incidents that life throws at him, incidents that would normally upset ordinary people. Death of a grandmother, proposal by a girlfriend or facing death. It is a designed persona, or else, who can imagine someone who faces death not only with indifference, but with glee? Camus seems to be questioning the binary that pervades the common belief – you either have good reasons for your behavior, or you are insane. He seems to be saying through his protagonist’s behavior that you are not obliged to provide reasons for your behavior to anybody. In fact, the reasons provided by people are not actual reasons – they are only the pathetic facade that one puts on the inherent vacuum of existence, the absurd nature of things. It is designated meaning by people and it comes across as a logically layered description of reality, or people’s behaviors and actions – but is absurd when you peek closely into it.
The plot and narrative style is mundane. There is no melodrama and even the most melodramatic scenes are described nonchalantly, as if the protagonist – and since the protagonist narrates the story in first person, the author is looking at things nonchalantly. Things like death of close ones, murder, love, friendship and law. Things that most people hold close to their heart. It is as if Camus is laughing at people who take the meaning of things seriously – the meaning that lies at the fabric of the society itself. It does not go to as much of an extreme as Sartre’s “Hell is other people”, but treats community and society as inherently vacuous and redundant.
The supporting characters are diverse and interesting, and though they are looked at from the perspective of the protagonist, they surprise you at times. Raymond comes across as unlikable but very interesting. Marie lacks depth but probably Camus intended her to.
The protagonists internal monologues are not only designed to give a glimpse into Camus’s philosophy but are also used as literary devices that give a little ambiguity to the character. They refuse to tell you a lot about the protagonist while giving huge amount of information about his thoughts.
Overall, it is a great read for someone who believes in nihilistic line of thought. I find the whole exercise unconvincing, hence I give it 4/5. Worth a read definitely, even if you do not care about Camus’ philosophy. It is a must read for the sake of completion of the canon of great books of 20th century.
Poets want to express the inexpressible. Yes, the real poets seek the challenge of putting in words stuff that can not be put in words. No poet wants to write about the red flask in front of you. That is the task of a painter or photographer.
Poets want to write about the emotion that red flask may be generating in you that you yourself do not clearly know about. Maybe the colour red reminds you of the red saree your sister wore in her marriage, maybe it is the colour red that you saw when your finger was cut or the red bindi your mom wore when you were a small kid. The emotions can be love, fear, compassion or a mix of all.
The reason why you feel so good after writing a poem is that you know the feeling a little better after putting it on the paper. It is this process of manifesting the unmanifested also puts poet in the forefront of human consciousness, and in the old times being a poet was the height of wisdom and the old literature is mostly written as poetry.
(If you want to ask Manik a question about creativity, writing, poetry, fiction or general life advice, please use the contact details.
After the warm reception for my first book, I am pleased that readers like “Brothers Sen Gogh” too. Admitted that it is a smaller audience, unlike the romance or thriller genres, but it is an audience that every writer would like to have. An audience that craves for something different, something stimulating, something that enriches one’s thinking mind.
Thank you readers, for the warm reception of the book, and providing me motivation to keep writing.
Now a bestseller on Amazon, Brother Sen Gogh is a journey into the nature of talent, creativity, mental health and most importantly, familial relationships. Available at an introductory price of just INR 49/- in India and at USD .99 in the US.
Inspired by the brotherly love of Vincent and Theo Van Gogh, Brothers Sen Gogh ruminates about the pains of a sensitive soul, the inability of society to identify artistic talent and the heartbreaking tragedy of a flawed brotherly relationship.
Soubhik Sengupta is an indie musician with emotional fragility.
Sourav Sengupta is an indie music producer who is unable to launch his brother.
Will their life follow the script of the life of Van Gogh brothers? Will Soubhik be appreciated for his talent? Will he find his lady love? Will Sourav be able to convince people of Soubhik’s talent? Who is Prashant, who calls himself the modern Gauguin? Will Indrani be able to leave her checkered past to lead a family life with Soubhik?
With their life script following the brothers separated by one and half centuries, Brothers Sen Gogh is a journey into the real nature of artistic freedom, the intricate relationship between talent and destructive sensitivity, struggle of the life of an indie musician and the perils of an alternate life. Traveling in the bylanes of Mumbai, the story tracks the tragic lives of the Sengupta brothers as they try and build an alternate life following their passions.
A weekend spike of purchases has taken Brothers Sen Gogh in the bestseller list. Hopefully this lasts. Please grab your copy at the promotional price of INR 49/- or for USD 0.99, only till end of this week.
Inspired by the brotherly love of Vincent and Theo Van Gogh, Brothers Sen Gogh ruminates about the pains of a sensitive soul, the inability of society to identify artistic talent and the heartbreaking tragedy of a flawed brotherly relationship.
Inspired by the brotherly love of Vincent and Theo Van Gogh, Brothers Sen Gogh ruminates about the pains of a sensitive soul, the inability of society to identify artistic talent and the heartbreaking tragedy of a flawed brotherly relationship.
Soubhik Sengupta is an indie musician with emotional fragility.
Sourav Sengupta is an indie music producer who is unable to launch his brother.
Will their life follow the script of the life of Van Gogh brothers? Will Soubhik be appreciated for his talent? Will he find his lady love? Will Sourav be able to convince people of Soubhik’s talent? Who is Prashant, who calls himself the modern Gauguin? Will Indrani be able to leave her checkered past to lead a family life with Soubhik? Is Nethra a better guitarist or a better mother? Will Sourav have to support Soubhik all his life?
With their life script following the brothers separated by one and half centuries, Brothers Sen Gogh is a journey into the real nature of artistic freedom, the intricate relationship between talent and destructive sensitivity, struggle of the life of an indie musician and the perils of an alternate life. Traveling in the bylines of Mumbai, the story tracks the tragic lives of the Sengupta brothers as they try and build an alternate life following their passions.
To be available on Amazon in the first week of March 2021.
These precious days is a heartbreaking long read by Ann Patchett about an unlikely friendship developed between her and Sooki Raphael, Tom Hank’s assistant. It is written from Ann’s heart and is a great display of the healing power of storytelling.
Tom Hanks writes a short story book that is reviewed by Ann. Tom asks Ann to accompany her for a book tour. It is then Ann gets a little closer to Sooki. Eventually after finding that Sooki has cancer, Ann invites her to Nashville since Ann’s husband is a doctor in a hospital known for the treatment. The relationship between the two is the subject of the book which is almost a novella size book and an emotional roller coaster. Ann’s writing is magical and she treats the real life event as unfolding of a story. Anyone who has written anything fictional, knows that the characters take over the story and the story goes in directions you never intended it to go. A similar thing happens with life too. Narratives are mostly woven looking back. When things actually happen in real time, you do not know how your life is going to unfold.
When you start reading the story, you feel that it is going to be about Tom Hanks, but it turns out that he is a bit player in the story. There are many places where similar things happen. You expect the story to behave in a certain way, but it has its own mind. Ann makes sure that the reader understands the unpredictability of life and the highlights the myth of a difference between fiction and reality. In several places, she seems to talk to authors and ask them in a mocking tone, “Do you think you are writing the story?”
It reminded me of Anand, the emotional masterpiece by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, in the sense of a cancer patient getting in a totally different environment and making the best friends of his life in the short period he stays with them. Anand has a lot of emotional melodrama but the core point of life being short, comes across very effectively in the movie. There is a similar thread of philosophy in “These precious days” as well and the reader is surprised to find out the transformation in the personality of the leading characters due to the defining event.
Considering much of the proceedings are happening in the coronavirus pandemic days, it is amazing to see the impact of these events on the author’s life. It is as if the pandemic did not exist in their lives since much more was happening. The seed of the reason why the story became so interesting is also in the existence of the pandemic. The pandemic is what made us stay at home for months. A kind of period that allows intimacy to build or bonds to break if they are weak. In case of Ann and Sooki, the former turned out to be the case.
Please do yourself a favor and read it. It is a long read, almost the size of a novella, but is a magical read.
Manik Bal’s short story collection, “Her Revenge” is available now. With this diverse collection of short stories, Manik Bal continues to explore the, and the mundane in the bizarre.
