Alongshore

Written by John Stilgoe

Published in 1996.

The book is about an eclectic bunch of things all related to the liminal American landscape between land and sea.

If on a winter's night a traveler

Written by Italo Calvino

Published in 1979.

Now this novel I can describe as postmodern without hesitation. Perhaps it would be best described as an investigation of reading and writing, of the compulsions of the reader and the author. The novel is a bit discombobulating at first but it is worth sticking out till the end. The end is in fact quite beautiful. It has been a few weeks since I read this book, so I'm a bit fuzzy on the details but I certainly would enjoy reading it again someday.

The Volcano Lover

Written by Susan Sontag

Published in 1989

A very well-crafted novel. Sontag's works of literary criticism show her to be a very perspicacious scholar. This book puts all her observations about literature into work. It is a historical novel about Le Cavalier, a British ambassador, and his life in Naples. Le Cavalier is an avid collector: he collects ancient Roman vases, bits of volcanic ash from nearby Mt Vesuvius and even women. The novel is a comment on property, ownership, collection and what it means to engage in these activities. It is a comment on capitalism couched in a story that unfolds in pre-capitalist times.

But it is also a book very interested in women. It is not feminist in a stereotypical sense. The female characters are in fact usually overshadowed by Le Cavalier but in the final part of the novel, Sontag gives voice to four women in the novel. These peripheral characters take control of the so-far omniscient narratival voice and speak their stories. It is quite unusual. I don't know if postmodern is an accurate description because the omniscient narrator does dominate most of the novel. I guess Sontag's approach is summed up best in the words of a poetess character. She was hanged by the royalists in Naples and was only passingly mentioned in the novel proper. But her story is what ends the novel and in the final lines she says:

"Sometimes I had to forget that I was a woman to accomplish the best of which I was capable of. Or I would lie to myself about how complicated it is to be a woman. Thus do all women, including the author of this book. But I cannot fogive those who did not care about more than their own glory or well-being. They though they were civilized. They were despicable. Damn them all."

The most enjoyable aspect of the novel for me was her supreme command over her prose. Her sentences were calibrated almost to a fault. I'm quite glad to have read this book.

Hunger by Knut Hamsun

The first novel by a great Norwegian writer, Hamsun really knows what human destitution and suffering are all about. The story follows an unidentified man looking for food on the streets of Christiania, Denmark. That's about it. The plot, if we can even call it that, concerns his pursuits, his trials and struggles to sustain himself as he roams about searching for something to eat, much like an animal, from one part of the city to the next. The most important identifying markers about our protagonist are completely missing: his name, his origin, his history: parents/family, life before his present predicament etc. Unlike the typical sans-abri: begging for spare change, eating out of dumpsters, waiting in line at the local shelter for a loaf of bread, this character is resourceful and obsessively preoccupied with grandiose notions of pride and dignity. Even though his situation gets progressively worse as the story develops, our hero (subject to interpretation) never loses hope. Rather than being concerned about his physical degradation, the protagonist rants about his eternal soul, his moral salvation, Christ the saviour and such. He is convinced that, like Jesus, he too is meant for some higher purpose in life. The story takes on a more sinister turn when his starvation seems to be self-induced: a voluntary fast, a sacrifice for a greater good.
Episodes pile on top of episodes: he falls in love with a girl he meets randomly while walking down a street, he pawns off nearly all his belongings, has several run-ins with the law, begins to lose his mind, tries to rape the girl he met. In one particularly poignant scene, the protagonist take a bite out of his finger, not out of desperation but just to feel what it would be like.
The brilliance of the book lies in the simple fact that it is not about what it appears to be. It doesn't concern hunger at all, or rather, not the kind one would be led to believe. Hamsun presents the complexity of modern satiation for a hero who seeks to transcend his baser urges. It is a man's struggle to reclaim his masculinity, it is a human's struggle to remain moral in a world which demands nothing short of immorality. Highly recommended for a quiet summer read: depressing, morbid and ridiculously funny.

The Islamic Law and Constitution

Written by Syed Abul Ala Maududi

Published in 1955.

Maududi was the great champion of a theocracy in Pakistan. He was also the founder of the Jamaat-i-Islami. His writings are enlightening in that he is not as much of a monster as I would imagine. He did want the rule of Allah but a lot of the fine print was quite idealistic, even utopian. He was for an independent judiciary and for free access to justice; he was also willing to concede non-Muslim Pakistanis way more rights and protections than I would have thought. Of course, he also wanted to prevent non-Muslims from playing any role in governing the country.

The fundamental difference between him and secularists lies in that he would like the state's chief purpose to be the creation of a moral people while secularists would like the state to worry about effecting economic and social change that would improve people's lives materially, but not necessarily spiritually.

The difference between him and Iqbal rests in their understanding of the concept of free will in Islam. For Iqbal it is a central concept and the individual Muslim must make his own choices in following Islam instead of having the state force Muslims to make those choices. Righteousness as the result of free will is the highest form of worship and piety. Maududi saw differently. A Muslim's freedom was limited. Perhaps his freest choice is conversion into Islam, but once that person chooses to become a Muslim he must abide by the laws of Islam and he has no choice in that matter. So it is completely acceptable for the state to force Muslims to obey; it could be considered the work of God even. So to arm the state with laws that it must enforce, Maududi scours the Quran and takes injunctions about personal behavior and makes them into laws; stuff like help the poor and the orphans. It is ultimately quite unconvincing and I have to agree with Ayesha Jalal that as much as the likes of Maududi frown upon bidat this political Islam is to a large degree a modern invention cooked up by Maududi himself.

Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam

Written by Sir Muhammad Iqbal
Published in 1986.

The book has seven speeches by Iqbal on Islamic thought. Over the series he lays out a philosophical groundwork for Islam in keeping with advances in science and thought. It addresses issues from metaphysics to government to prayer. The level of his engagement with Western philosophers ranging from Aristotle to Nietszche to Russell is quite remarkable. He acknowledges Islamic thought's debt to classical Greek philosophers but argues for a reinterpretation of the Quran that takes into account the implications of Einstein's theory of relativity on metaphysics.

The Quran for him is a starting point for scientific inquiry, an impetus to study our surroundings. The ossified Islam of today is anathema to him. Free thinking is crucial for society, and freedom essential to humankind. He is the complete opposite of the shariah fanatics who want to compel all Muslims to follow the dictates of Islam. Iqbal says that freedom is a necessary condition for goodness because without making the choice, goodness holds no value.

Jinnah of Pakistan

Written by Stanley Wolpert

Published in 1984.

Interesting book. Gave me insight into Jinnah's early years as the beacon of Hindu-Muslim unity. That is a part of Jinnah that tends to be overlooked and was so especially when I was doing research on events taking place during the final years of his life.

His shift from that champion of Hindu-Muslim unity to champion of Pakistan to once again champion of secularism is not explained all that convincingly by Wolpert. Wolpert gives us the facts and the events but in my opinion relies too much on Jinnah's vanity and megalomania to explain these shifts. He frames the shift not as Jinnah choosing his Muslim identity over his identity as an anti-imperial Indian but of him choosing the path that offered a greater certainty to power. I find Jalal's account more convincing. It maintains that Jinnah remained a secular man throughout his life, even when he was advocating for Pakistan. But what is lost in Jalal's book is the endless rhetoric that Jinnah pours out in favour of Pakistan during the years of the Pakistan movement. Pakistan was merely a bargaining chip for Jinnah but rallying Muslims of India to this bargaining chip went a long way in creating communal sentiments in India, which were to cause so much bloodshed in 1946-47. In this sense, Jinnah's hands are dirty. At the very least he is culpable of neglecting to think out the effect of all his scare-mongering.

Wolpert's book was also useful in that it was a window to Jinnah's person in those last crucial years of the Pakistan movement. Jalal considers only his goals and strategies, Wolpert gives us his feelings and aspirations. The man he finds in the 40s is frustrated, embittered and sick. The impact of these feelings on the events of the 40s should not be minimized.