Let’s Talk Men

A LITERARY EVENING

IN COLLABORATION WITH

ZUBAAN

M.L. BHARTIA AUDITORIUM,

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

DE DELHI,

72 Lodi Estate, New Delhi

8 December 2007

6.00 Pm

A man would never set out to write a book on the peculiar situation of the human male. But if I wish to define myself, I must first of all say: ‘I am a woman’; on this truth must be based all further discussion. A man never begins by presenting himself as an individual of a certain sex; it goes without saying that he is a man.

Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex

For many years, feminist writers, scholars and thinkers have considered the complex relationship between gender and writing, between the physical and the writerly self, between the personal and the political spheres, between the private and the public domains. This has given rise to a rich and wide body of literature– and criticism – that focuses on women’s writing. However, it is only recently that these kinds of questions are being addressed vis a vis men’s writing and masculinity.

Since simone de Beauvoir wrote The Second Sex in 1949, however, the ‘peculiar situation of the human male’ is something that some male writers have set out to write about, and it is this gendered understanding of a writer’s work and identity which this panel will focus upon. Creative writing is – perhaps more than anything else – a voyage out of the narrow confines of one’s own experience: it involves imagination, empathy, and an openness to otherness. Is gender a limitation or a springboard? Do women and men write differently, and if so, why and how? Do readers read male and female authors differently? And what changes when those expectations are overturned? Is it possible for women to write of the ‘inner worlds’ of men? And vice versa? And how do class, nationality and cultural location intersect with those of gender?

Many women writers baulk at the idea of being pigeonholed by their gender. “I’m just a writer,” they say, not a woman writer.” Should the term be done away with – in the same way as ‘woman doctor’, ‘woman scientist’, ‘poetess’ or ‘actress’? How would men feel if their literature was termed ‘men’s writing’?

It is telling that the first hit that you get searching for ‘men’s writing’ on the internet is “men’s writing instruments” where you can browse for a $265 silver ballpoint pen; and ‘men’s literature’ immediately directs you to gay men’s literature. Search for under ‘women’s writing/literature has, as you can imagine, very different results.

Let’s Talk Men seeks to break through a different kind of silence. Not the silences of oppression or marginalisation that have dogged women over the years, but the tacit assumption that unless a man is gay, or black, or otherwise ‘marked’ as being an outsider, that his gender is simply irrelevant, that it is the ‘norm’ against which all others are judged.

READINGS AND CONVERSATION WITH:

RANA DASGUPTA

ANJUM HASAN

MUKUL KESAVAN

GEETANJALI SHREE

Profiles of Writers

Anjum Hasan's new novel, Lunatic in my Head, is published by Zubaan and Penguin Books, and her collection of poetry, Street on the Hill, was published by Sahitya Akademi. She is based in Bangalore and works for 'India Foundation for the Arts'.

Mukul Kesavan is a historian, critic, writer and cricket enthusiast. He teaches at Jamia Milia. His non-fiction writing includes Men in White about cricket, and his new book, Ugly Indian Men , is published by Black Kite, an imprint of Permanent Black. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed novel, Looking Through Glass.

Geetanjali Shree is a well-known Hindi novelist and short story writer. She has four novels and several short story collections to her credit as well as a critical work on Premchand. Her novels, Mai and The Roof Beneath My Feet have appeared in English translation with Zubaan.

Rana Dasgupta's debut novel, Tokyo Cancelled, was shortlisted for the John Llwellyn Rhys Prize and the Hutch Crossword Book Award, and has been translated into nine languages. Rana grew up in the UK and now lives in Delhi, where he is currently at work on a novel about the history of daydreams in Bulgaria.