OBOC - Guatemala

Miguel Asturias is probably the most famous writer from Guatemala and was the obvious choice for OBOC. I did begin with his most ambitious but least understood work "Men of Maize". Once again it was a fool's folly on my part. There is a reason why wikipedia describes this book as the least understood book by Asturias. But i was intrigued by the history of the Maya Indians. Luckily good sense prevailed and i abandoned the book at around 20 pages and picked up "Son of Tecun Uman" an autobiographical diary of Ignacio Bizarro Ujpan which he wrote upon the request of anthropologist James Sexton.

Ignacio is "every Indian" and through his diary we get an honest, simple, engaging view of life in Guatemala in the '70s for Indians who were partially assimilated into the larger society. The appeal of this book is the mere fact that autobiographies are usually reserved for the rich and/or famous. Rarely we hear from society's otherwise voiceless. The story of Ignacio's could be the story of adivasis in India, Native Americans on a reservation today in America, or other indigenous cultures from around the world. What does it mean to live on a dollar a day? What kind of life do people on the fringe of society, mired in poverty lead? What kind of daily struggles do people face in these circumstances? How do they deal with death, sickness, natural calamities? Ignacio's story answers many of these questions. Although his situation is similar to that of Adivasis and Native Americans, it is also unique as defined by his culture, the social structure and the geography.

Broadly these were some of the themes of Maya Indian Society as described by Ignacio

1) Absolute Poverty - the biggest worry in Ignacio's mind is providing for his family especially his kids. Although he does manage to build a home with adobe walls, a sheet metal roof and a cement floor, everyday life is a lot of struggle. He sometimes worked as a contractor rounding up laborers to work on someone else's farm on a different coast. Most often than not he has no idea where his next dollar was going to come from.

2) Community ties - This was a big theme in his diary. Everyone in San Jose knew everyone else or so it seemed. People looked out for each other. Family is a loose definition but tight connection. Ignacio would go to lengths to help out a distant family member at great cost to himself.

3) Faith - Although very much Catholic, you could see that most Indians have not given up on their traditional beliefs and seem to have created their own version of a mixed religion. Ignacio seems to have lost a lot of faith in the current day Shamans, he still holds on to many seemingly superstitious beliefs.

4) Nature and its impact - Situated near Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, the lake is almost a central figure in this autobiography. Panajachel is even today famous for its natural beauty and many tourist brochures advertise both its beauty and the Mayan culture it supports. Ignacio briefly mentions the beauty but spends a great deal of time about the drownings in the lake, the spirit goddess who demands human sacrifices, the wind that blows announcing an impending death. These were the realities of his life. The other big natural disaster were the earthquakes. In the period covered by the book San Jose sees many earthquakes and aftershocks. Whole village sleeps outdoors in fear of aftershocks including Igancio's wife who had just delivered a baby.

5) Alcohol - The impact of alcohol on indigenous tribes world over is well known. Still I was shocked by how much alcohol was mentioned in this book. Men especially would drink for no apparent reason or  actually for any reason. Birth or death, harvest of crops or destruction of those, profit or loss, religious celebration or political reason - alcohol was often the answer. As a reader I was often frustrated at how much money Ignacio would spend on alcohol relative to his earnings! Towards the end of the book I was glad to see Ignacio join Alcoholics Anonymous and trying hard to kick the habit.

But the overarching theme of this book was survival. The legendary Tecun Uman is a National Hero of the Guatemalans. Following in his footsteps Ignacio is a hero in his own way. He constantly battles against natural calamities, the cards he had been dealt with in his life, his own flaws and preventable diseases like measles which is responsible for the loss of two of his kids and does all of that without much bitterness. He shows very high emotional intelligence, a sense of humor and tremendous curiosity. The sheer range of topics covered by his biography is daunting - shamans, politics, dreams,  religion, landless labor, economic conditions, changing face of Guatemala, soccer, frustrations of people,  fatalism and much much more.

Most indigenous cultures have been "studied" by anthropologists, their stories are usually hijacked and re-told by others. James Sexton by asking Ignacio to do a three part autobiography has helped create a valuable document for posterity. I am sure the next part Campesino would be an equally fascinating read.

OBOC - Guinea

With Tony Morrison and Henry Louis Gate Jr strongly urging lovers of literature to pick up "The Radiance of the King" by Camara Laye I could not overlook the book. Yes it is a different perspective and a very intriguing story but I am sorry to say that the book did not grip me like the novels of Chinua Achebe or Bessie Head.

Here is the plot briefly. The hero (you can't really call him that) Clarence is a white man who has ended up in some part of sub Saharan Africa. Why and how he got there or his purpose is not explained. When we meet him at the beginning of the novel, he is scorned by other whites, he is broke and unable to pay for his lodging but he still is full of self-importance considering himself worthy enough for an audience with the king. Although he has no specific skills he is supremely confident of finding employment as an advisor to the king. Unable to navigate the crowd and the "stench" of Africa he fails to get near the king when the king visits the North.

So with a beggar as a guide and 2 youths for company he begins a long journey to the South in the hope of meeting the King down south after literally selling his pants to pay for a meal. Suspicious of the beggar and puzzled by the maze-like forest he is not sure that his journey is going to be successful. This portion of the book reads like something out of Joseph Campbell's treatises on The Hero and his mythological journey.  At the end of the journey they reach this village where unbeknownst to Clarence he is sold to the Naba of the village as a "breeder". He settles down in the village with Akissi who keeps house for him and waits for the king.

When the king finally arrives we see a remarkable transformation in Clarence. We come to understand that the purpose of the quest which on the surface appears to be an audience with the king, is actually a journey of self-revelation (again very similar to the Hero's Journey) when Clarence finally sees himself with all his imperfections. Overcome by shame he is hesitant to see the king, but finds himself called for despite his odor and faults to stand in the radiance of the king.

The book concludes with Clarence "finally at the end of his seeking, and at the end of all seekings".  Yes it is an interesting premise - a white man disgraced in Colonial Africa undergoing transformation, coming face to face with his own faults and stench, but this book was hard labor! It is a story of quest and as someone who is vaguely familiar with quest stories in Mythology i was kinda prepared for this one. Still there was nothing to hold my attention and i found the journey to the South portion excruciatingly long. Maybe I will someday figure out why Tony Morr isson and Henry Louis Gate praise this work, but I would much rather read Chinua Achebe!

OBOC - Germany

"Born under a light bulb, deliberately stopped growing at the age of 3, given drum, sang glass to pieces, smelled vanilla, coughed in churches, observed ants, decided to grow, buried drum, emigrated to west, lost east, learned stonecutter's trade, asked as a model, started drumming again, visited concrete, made money, kept finger, gave finger away, fled laughing, rode up escalator, arrested, convicted, sent to mental hospital, soon to be acquitted, celebrated thirtieth birthday and still afraid of the Black Witch."

This is how Oskar Matzerath, the unlikely hero of Gunter Grass' Tin Drum sums up his life. Bizarre is the one word that comes to mind when I think of the novel. Controversial at the time of publication and a Classic today, it is hailed as the single most important book from Germany in the post-war period receiving a Noble Prize nod for the author. Is it a political novel? For sure, but it is also psychological, mythical, allegorical in style that to get to the political you need to peel through many layers of the onion.

Oskar Matzerath is an unlikely hero for a novel. At the age of 3 he contrives to not grow any further by getting himself into an accident. With a tin drum as his constant companion and a voice that can shatter glass we meet him at the beginning of the novel in a mental asylum. So the credibility of the narrator himself is in big question. His mother married to Matzerath a German who owns a store, carries on the side with her cousin Jan Bronski who is Kashubian and works in the Polish post office, so much so that Oskar has no idea who his real father is. Carrying this 2 father allegory further, Oskar constantly finds himself caught between Jesus and Satan, Rasputin and Goethe, just like Danzig itself is caught between Poland and Germany. Danzig is to Grass what Dublin is to Joyce.

If one is not willing to look for allegorical references I am not sure this novel will work. Oskar spends a whole lot of time observing the action from a different point of view, from under the table or from under the dais - again offering a view unlike no other about Nazi Germany. In some sense by deciding not to grow beyond 3 year he is able to absolve himself from all the happenings of that period with a child like innocence. Also his unique voice that shatters glass is on the surface a reference to Kristallnacht, I also thought it was an allegory to the purpose of this novel - shattering the myths surrounding Nazi Germany.

Gunter Grass' main point seems to be that the petit bourgeois cannot excuse themselves by blaming it all on one man - Hitler the monster. After all Hitler was democratically elected and grew in their own midst. At a time when the German nation was trying to distant itself from the past and heal its wounds, this novel seems to confront the past and reopen the wounds which explains the uproar caused by the novel.

While the horrors of the Nazi regime are described through Kristallnacht and the massacre at the Polish Post Office Gunter Grass also shows that innocence was a rare commodity among the complicit public at that time. Even little kids play some of the cruelest games. Oskar's mother is certainly not innocent and neither is Oskar who by his own admission was indirectly responsible for 3 deaths. There are so many gross scenes in the novel which were so hard to read, making me very uncomfortable (especially the eels scene and how Oskar's mom meets her death) but i guess that is precisely the point - this is uncomfortable public and personal history and everyone in their own sphere was culpable to some extent.

Gunter Grass appears to have a very pessimistic view of the future of Germany and there are several passages and references where the pessimism comes to the surface.  The Black Witch who is an evil figure in German folklore is mentioned often and as Oskar admits he is still afraid of her.

I've only scratched the surface of this novel. There are a lot more themes like the role of the Church, the post-war recovery and psyche etc.  I read an older edition and found out that a new revised translation has come out which is much closer to the original. Although the narration, the themes and the technique make it a challenging read it was a hard book to put down and I am glad that I didn't give up!