[Reader-list] Trousers of Time: Children's/YA spec-fic and Indian children's literature

[samit basu]

The luckiest bibliophiles in the world are the ones who aren't told
what not to read as children, and can make up their own minds
depending on what sort of book they actually like reading. A lot of
these children grow up to be speculative fiction readers, some because
they admire the incredible capacity of good spec-fic to deal with
themes  both epic and deeply personal, others because they retain
their childlike sense of wonder and like spec-fic's special effects.
And the very best children's literature, from Pullman, Rowling,
Pratchett, Colfer, Snicket and Stroud to Milne, Nesbit, Barrie, Dahl,
Seuss, Carroll, Tolkien and Ray, has always contained speculative
elements; from myths and fairytales to spaceships and werewolves,
children's literature has always stepped outside the real world's
boundaries and set minds free. Various people have had problems with
this down the ages, mostly members of crackpot religious organizations
and associations of conservative parents. Adult writers of speculative
fiction have it easier, the only people who don't like them are
critics.

 In a post-Potter universe, it's no surprise that children's fantasy
literature reigns supreme in bookstores all over the world, and the
most talked-about authors are usually the next next next JK Rowlings.
Children are far less aware of literary hierarchies than their
grown-up selves, far less interested in what the books they're reading
portray about them as individuals, and establish literary pecking
orders mostly on the basis of 'I've read more than you,' which can
only be a good thing for books and their writers.

Jai Arjun Singh, critic and blogger, on spec-fic, children and
literary respectability:
Well, I think it goes without saying that children by their very
nature are more open-minded and receptive to fantastical elements than
adults are. But I think the real reason is more basic and depressing:
parents tend to think it's alright for kids of a certain age to
indulge themselves with what is perceived as "meaningless fun" - and
then, as they grow older, to read Serious Literature. That perception
runs very deep and is probably responsible for the step-sisterly
treatment given to fantasy for adults, and the schism between
Children's Literature and Adult Literature.

Vandana Singh, writer of speculative fiction and children's books, on
the divide:
"The world of the imagination has recently (only in modern times, I
think) been infantilized.  The Real World is seen to be for grown-ups,
and all that fairy-tale stuff for kids.  This is truly sad and
remarkably stupid as well, because you can see in every culture that
the oldest tales have elements of magic or other-worldliness to them.
Their value lies not in literal interpretations (in which case myths
become nothing but unsuccessful attempts at explaining natural
phenomena) but because they speak the language of the unconscious mind
--- the language of symbol and metaphor.  They tell us about ourselves
--- our fears and dreams.  After all, reality is such a complicated
beast.  If you are to hold it, understand it, you need something
larger than reality to do so.  Enter Imaginative Literature. "
 "Speculative elements in children's fiction has a long history even
in our times --- the world, however, needed the Harry Potter
phenomenon to wake up to the fact.  We insiders were reading Diana
Wynne Jones, Ursula K. Le Guin,  Lloyd Alexander and others long
before Rowling set pen to paper.  For whatever reason Harry and his
friends came at the right time to spark a massive public interest in
children's imaginative literature, and this led to a discovery on the
part of the public to a literature that they had, for a very long
time, ignored.  Now everyone is jumping on the bandwagon of children's
spec fic, and that is all to the good. "

Ashok Banker, prolific SFF author, on the children's SFF wave:
"Actually, there's nothing 'new' or 'now' about this phenomenon. The
most popular books for children for the past several decades have been
SFF stories. From the LoTR books, which were essentially young adult
fiction repackaged and marketed for older readers in the USA, to the
Narnia series, The Dark is Rising series, and several others, the
bestselling works of YA fiction have always included spec fic titles.
At the same time, there's always been a healthy mix of other
genres--so, for instance, there are excellent YA books which are
wholly realistic and contain zero spec fic elements, my 13-year old
daughter's favourite author is Sarah Dessen, for instance, who writes
intense, realistic novels like Dreamland and The Truth About Forever
that just happen to feature YA characters but are literature by any
yardstick."
"What has changed recently has been the phenomenon of J. K. Rowling's
Harry Potter books. That's singlehandedly changed the entire
publishing world, not just YA fiction. To a great extent, yes, it's
opened up the doors for a whole barrage of similar fantasy series
marketed at YA, some of which is quite readable and enjoyable, while a
lot of it is predictably over-marketed, over-published editorially
'created' crap. This is no different from, for example, the horde of
'christian mystery' thrillers that have exploded since the success of
Dan Brown's The Da Vince Cold--achoo!"
"The other major catalyst of the rise of spec fic in YA publishing has
been film and TV. As I mentioned earlier, 25 years ago, SF fans were
considered to be wierdos and eccentrics who had their head in the
clouds (or outer space) and were dismissed as 'Trekkies' or beanies.
Today, the biggest film franchises almost all have spec fic elements.
It's the biggest single genre in the movie and entertainment biz now,
and it encompasses gaming, which is a multi-billion industry far
bigger than even the movie biz, movies, TV, books, comics,
merchandizing, toys, you name it."
"This mass explosion has made SFF not only respectable and acceptable
even to parents who might earlier have become nervous about their kids
reading 'escapist' stuff two decades ago, it's also made the genre
tropes intimately familiar to every kid. Back then, the scene in a
book or movie wherein the hero explained what a werewolf was, and how
it could be killed, was a secret thrill to those of us who spent our
days and nights immersed in such arcane lore...Today, every Potterhead
knows what a Lycan is and how a silver bullet brings him down splat!"

In India, languages which have rich and well-established literary
traditions of their own also have, as is only to be expected,
extremely good children's speculative fiction. In English, too, we
have some truly wonderful children's/Young Adult writers, most of
whose books contain speculative elements – Kalpana Swaminathan,
Manjula Padmanabham, Anoushka Ravishankar and Vandana Singh have all
produced work in recent years that's exciting, entertaining,
intelligent and not didactic or patronizing at all.

But the young reader's open-mindedness can work both ways; while it
ensures that children don't see books as political statements, it also
means that children won't gravitate naturally towards books by Indian
authors just because they are Indian – stories are all-important, and,
in the wake of Pottermania, hype. The global children's writing market
is probably even more difficult to break into for foreigners than
adult literary fiction, and so far Indian children's literature hasn't
produced a champion that's given it what IWE usually demands as a
token of success, the big UK/US publishing deal that's the best way of
ensuring that an Indian book gets talked about in India. And as far as
publicity for Indian children's writing is concerned, the situation is
fairly dismal – most publishers don't put any significant amount of
money in the promotion of their children's titles, and while in an
ideal world good work would find huge audiences simply by being good
work, in this world most Indian children hungry to read more aren't
even aware of what's good in new Indian children's writing, while
national news channels continue to flash updates every time JK Rowling
sneezes. This is not to say even for a moment that Indian kids should
read Indian writers' books ahead of the latest big international
craze, thus missing out on the wave of seriously good children's books
that have been sweeping across the world in the last decade, but just
that it would be so much more pleasant if Indian children knew that
there were actually books available that gave them great stories in
familiar settings.

Jaya Bhattacharji, editor, Young Zubaan, on current possibilities for
speculative childrens' writing:
"Pottermania has contributed a great deal to the surge in this form of
writing. Given that the Rowling phenomena has been pivotal in
encouraging reading, irrespective of the size of the book, I think, a
lot of children's writers, feel that since this is probably the genre
that is selling, it is the one to emulate. "
"There certainly is a market in India for this kind of fiction. I am
certainly all for any genre that encourages reading and releasing the
imagination. But the Indian market has to evolve its own
signature/stamp of fantasy fiction. We cannot rely totally on
imitating fiction that is necessarily based on a Western/Christian
tradition or of even trying to yoke the two systems together. A lot of
the fantasy fiction that comes from the West is in the classic form of
Good vs Evil; or in the Romance tradition of being on a Quest; or in
search of the Holy Grail, whatever it may be; or reliance on Greek
mythology. In India, we have a huge amount of influences to rely upon,
which don't necessarily encompass the idea of a quest or the Holy
Grail. Sure, we do have a strong sense of Right and Wrong; Good vs
Evil, but it is tempered by the cultural melting pot that we live in,
where a lot of traditions are being intermingled. So, if fantasy has
to emerge in India, it has to develop its own distinctive identity. "
"The book market for children is completely unpredictable, so the
current flavour of the decade is fantasy as it has a reading public,
hence sales. Given the huge investments required in children's
publishing, most publishers, authors, literary agents will want/ten to
be conservative and capitalise on a winning formula rather than take a
risk. It is pure economic sense to promote fantasy and hence, its
noticeable dominance of the market. "

Payal Dhar, YA SFF author, on Indian children's writing:
"My biggest complaint with Indian authors writing for children is that
they have a particular idea of what children *should* read and not
what they *want* to read or even need to read. As a result, we get a
very sanitized depiction of the world, glossing over whatever is
uncomfortable. I'd like to see that change. I'd like to see a
Jacqueline Wilson or Judy Blume come out of India."
"Then again, there is a lot of very good fiction available for
children, even if it is not by Indian authors. Having been a weird and
withdrawn kid (and now adult!) who spends most waking hours reading, I
know that anyone (children as well as grown-ups) who wants a good read
just goes and gets a book that sounds interesting. They don't say, "I
will only read something by an Indian author." On the other hand, what
does sometimes matter is, you don't find anything to identify with -
yourself, your surroundings, your society. It isn't a crippling
disadvantage, though, and doesn't spoil the fun of reading, which is
the main thing."

Jaya Bhattacharji on what she wants to see in children's spec-fic:
 Fantasy for children in India, can be set in any context, time zone
etc, but it has to be well written. In the sense, that there should be
good, cohesive logic to the universe that is being created. There
should be details of the environment and the people and certainly not
a cacophony of voices, which really don't do much for the characters.
Each character should have a distinct voice. If different traditions
are to be mixed (and frankly, I am all for experimentation in
literature), then it has to be done cleverly, treated lightly and
presented in an interesting manner. By clever, I mean that the author
should not be "showing off" their immense reading and familiarity with
these other traditions, but create multi-layers and echoes in the
story, that will prompt the young reader to submerge, discover and be
totally entranced by the new literary creation. At the end of the day,
it has to be a GOOD STORY.  Also, a story well told will live for a
very long time to come and not necessarily be written and created with
"a" single market, fixed in time. In fact, it will then be read for
many generations to come. "

The primary mindset barrier Indian speculative children's writing
needs to break is not the same one its adult counterpart. Even today,
a lot of successful Indian children's books tend to be 'about India'
books, rather bland retellings of history and myth pushed down their
throats in large quantities by parents worried about their children
losing their connection with their homeland in the flood of wizards,
goosebumps, American high schools and Unfortunate Events that take
care of their children's fiction demands. How quality Indian
children's fiction, speculative or otherwise, can be moved out of
bookstores and into homes is unfortunately not a problem writers can
deal with. But until publishers find a solution, Indian children's
writers will have to keep on writing good books that are no doubt
hugely satisfying to write, but don't allow them to afford more time
to write even more hugely satisfying books.