The Quotation of the Week (Ocober 13-19, 2013)

A quotation of Mark Twain on "keeping one's mouth shut," compiled by Jerome D'Costa

Artwork by Shouvik Mikhail D'Costa (Febrary, 1999)

Canadian Short Story Writer Alice Munro Wins 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature

Alice Munro, Canadian short story writer and winner of 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature
Photo courtesy: www.news.nom.co

Alice Munro at her younger age

Photo courtesy: evelazarus.com/house-stories/alicemunro

 

Alice Munro by David Levine

 Image courtesy: The New York Review of Books

On October 10, Alice Munro, an 82-year old Canadian short story writer, has won this year’s Nobel prize in literature for her total work in short story writing. The Nobel committee mentioned her as the “master of the contemporary short story.” 

Known in Canada as the “Canadian Chekhov,” after the Russian master story writer Anton Chekhov, Alice Munro has made a name in both Canada and USA.  Her Nobel prize win was welcomed everywhere in Canada. 

She is the first Canadian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. She is the thirteenth woman in the world to win this particular prize. When the Canadian Press contacted her, her reaction was: “I knew I was in the running, yes, but I never thought I would win.”

Alice Munro was a regular writer of the magazines of The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Grand Street, Mademoiselle, and The Paris Review. 

Born at Wingham in southwestern Ontario, Alice Munro, in her long writing career, has received more than a dozen prizes and recognitions from different countries, including Canada.

A hand-written letter of Alice Munro

 Image courtesy: The Vancouver Sun

  
 Reactions on Munro's Win

Many people reacted enthusiastically at the Nobel Prize win of Alice Munro. They can be read at: Canadian authors cheer Alice Munro's Nobel Prize win.    

 Alice Munro's Books

• Dance of the Happy Shades (1968)

• Lives of Girls and Women (1971)

• Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You (1974)

• Who Do You Think You Are? (1978) [Published as The Beggar Maid in the USA]

• The Moons of Jupiter (1982)

• The Progress of Love (1986)

• Friend of My Youth (1990)

• Open Secrets (1994)

• Selected Stories (1996)

• The Love of a Good Woman (1998)

• Queenie (Storycuts) (1999)

• Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (2001)

• No Love Lost (2003)

• Vintage Munro (2004)

• Runaway (2004)

• The View from the Castle Rock (2006)

• Carried Away: A Selection of Stories (2006)

• Away from Her (2007)

• Tricks (2008)

• Alice Munro’s Best (2008)

• Too Much Happiness (2009)

• My Best Stories (2009)

• New Selected Stories (2011)

 Appraisal of Alice Munro's Works

The New York Times in piece gave an appraisal of the Nobel laureate's works. It can be accessed at: An Appraisal: Master of the Intricacies of the Human Heart and Writers on Munro.


Alice Munro’s Nobel Prize Win a Slap on David Gilmour’s Bias

A National Post cartoon (Toronto: Oct. 11, 2013)

David Gilmour, a visiting University of Toronto professor of English Literature and an award-winning author, created a firestorm after an interview with the Hazlitt literary magazine where he said that he doesn’t teach books by women or Chinese authors because he is interested in “serious heterosexual guys.”

In the interview of September 25, 2013, he said: “I teach modern short fiction to third and first year students. So I teach mostly Russian and American authors. Not much on the Canadian front. But I can only teach stuff I love. I can’t teach stuff that I don’t, and I haven’t encountered any Canadian writers yet that I love enough to teach.”     

He further said: “I’m not interested in teaching books by women. Virginia Woolf is the only writer that interests me as a woman writer, so I do teach one of her short stories…Unfortunately none of those happen to be Chinese, or women…I say I don’t love women writers enough to teach them, if you want women writers go down the hall. What I teach is guys. Serious heterosexual guys. F. Scott Fitzerald, Chekhov, Tolstoy. Real guy-guys. Henry Miller. Philip Roth.”

Some readers became furious at this news. Some accused him of being arrogant, sexist, racist and homophobic. In reply to the National Post daily, he said: “There isn’t a racist or a sexist bone in my body,’ and his quote was taken out of context. Then the Hazlitt magazine published the complete unedited transcript of the interview showing the real Gilmour in his own words.

After Alice Munro, a woman Canadian writer, won the Nobel Prize for Literature, her Canadian fans have been coming after David Gilmour with their claws on.

“Jamaat does not have any right to do politics in Bangladesh,” Says the Son of Jamaat-e-Islami Party’s Founder

Syed Haider Farooq Maudoodi, son of Syed Abul A'la Maudoodi, founder of Jamaat-e-Islami Party

 Photo courtesy: DhakaTribune

Syed Haider Farooq Maudoodi (69) is the son of Syed Abul A’la Maudoodi (1903 - 1979), the founder of the Jamaat-e-Islami Party . He is a columnist in Lahore, Pakistan, and a former airlines pilot. On October 6, the DhakaTribune published his interview that deals with Jamaat-e-Islami Party’s politics, state religion, Islam and politics, war crimes and War Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka and so on. 

To a question, Syed Haider Maudoodi replied, “Jamaat does not have any right to do politics in Bangladesh, particularly when they opposed the birth of it [Bangladesh]. They neither have the right, nor should they be allowed to do politics here…I think it is your leaders’ fault. Your leaders allowed them to do politics in this country after the independence. If you allow them, accept the fact that their politics is based on religion.”

He further added, “The question is who is behind this situation in Bangladesh? See, the constitution Sheikh Saheeb (Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) left is no more in the country [Bangladesh]. How did that happen? Who changed it? One needs to think about these too…Sheikh Saheeb banned Jamaat, isn’t it? Then who allowed them to come back again? You were in this country, think about it. Until and unless you find out where the power lies, which is supporting Jamaat, you would not reach the root of the problem.”

To another question on Islam and politics, he replied, “Whenever religion was interpreted in a political way, it killed humans and it ruined humanity…The holy Quran does not talk about politics, it rather talks for the person so that one can become better.”

He adds, “Political interpretation of religion always brings destruction in the society. Nowhere in the holy Quran does it talk about administering others. The holy Quran talks about individuals. It is about a person, not about administration or a system….”

About war crimes and the War Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka he says, “Anywhere, if any people commit crimes against humanity, s/he needs to be punished. If those people have committed such crimes then they undoubtedly need to be punished. Locals (Bangladeshi) also had a duty to not let them do politics after independence. Who let them come back to politics here?”

For the long and detailed interview of Syed Haider Farooq Maudoodi, you may visit, “Religion based politics is the biggest threat,” published in the DhakaTribune.