LITERATURE-LIGHT AND DELIGHT
25. ESSAYS
Essay is perhaps the commonest form of literature most of us are familiar with. The editorial page is usually loaded with two or three, daily.Even the editorial can be considered an essay, though brief and pointed. There have been great editorial writers, though most of them just languish behind the scene. A newspaper is supposed to be edited by someone, but he need not be a writer- this usually happens with families owning the paper. But there have been great editors in India who are good writers: Pothan Joseph, Frank Moraes, A.S.Raman, Khasa Subba Rao, A.N.Sivaraman, Khushwant Singh, Philip Spratt, K.Santhanam, Kalki, Ki.Va,Jagannathan, and currently CHO readily come to mind, not forgetting Sri Aurobindo!
It is difficult to define what an essay is. We can only say it is a short piece of writing on any subject. It used to be said that it is "a loose sally of the mind". Aldous Huxley once famously said that it is a literary device to "say almost anything about almost anything". That is about it- except that it be short, there is no restriction on the subject or the method or mode.The subject can be the most frivolous to the most sublime; the treatment can vary from the humorous, ironical, light-hearted, serious, scholarly or just plain silly. We may only say that the essays are either formal or informal. It has been an effective literary tool in the hands of able writers. Almost all great writers have been great essayists too. (Incidentally, the word 'essayist' is supposed to have been first used by Ben Jonson in 1609!)
Though the essence of the essay is brevity, some long treatises have been called essays by some famous authors: eg. Locke's 'Concerning Human Understanding' , Malthus's famous 'Essay on Population'.Though it is a prose form , some verses also have been called essays, as for eg. Pope's 'Essay on Man' and 'Essay on Criticism'. It is the fashion sometimes to call a series of photographs with a small write-up as 'photo essay'.Even motion pictures are called 'social or artistic essays'. Oh, the English language is maddening in its flexibility, richness and variety in usage.!
Like in other literary matters, the West traces the origin of the essay to their illustrious Greek and Roman forefathers. Plutarch, Cicero and Seneca wrote numerous essays. But it was the French writer Montaigne who launched the essay as a formal genre in modern times in the 16th century. He was followed by Francis Bacon in England. As a former British colony, we are only familiar with the English scene. In the 18th century, Addison and Steele launched the 'Tatler and Spectator' as a purely literary magazine, devoted to the essay form. Subsequently many varieties of magazines came up, all favouring the essay form.As formal literary criticism also developed during the period,the combination of essay and criticism proved really heady stuff. Dr.Johnson, Carlyle were all great critics and essayists. They were followed by Coleridge, Burke, William Hazlitt,Charles Lamb, R.L.Stevenson, Thomas De Quency etc. G.K Chesterton, A.G.Gardiner, Arthur Quiller-Couch, Robert Lynd,A.P.Herbert, E.V.Lucas, Hilaire Belloc, Virginia Woolf, Max Beerbohm etc have been great essayists.
The essay form caught on in the US too.Benjamin Franklin, Jefferson, Washington Irving, Emerson, Thoreau, J.R.Lowell, and our inimitable Mark Twain have been the historical American greats. But it has many effective practitioners of the formal type , writing on serious matters of public interest- Noam Chomsky, Paul Krugman etc. Walter Lippmann's political essays were widely read,though later there were accusations that he was a Soviet spy. James Thurber was a humorist.Almost every great American writer has also been a great essayist- Poe, Louisa May Alcott, Hemingway, Faulkner, Scot Fitzgerald. Leading magazines like Time and Newsweek carry essays, though every article there is an essay, like the British "Economist" but they all have their political slants and special agendas.
Our introduction to the essay in India, like in other areas, has been through our school and college. We of our generation began with the dreaded little red book -Wren and Martin's Grammar and Composition.I had a particularly good teacher in the 6th and 7th standards- Sri Kreeda Rama Raju- who insisted that we learn grammar well as it was the foundation for all language skills in the future. And he used to conduct special classes for grammar every Sunday , in the open courtyard under a Tamarind tree, because school time was not sufficient and the syllabus did not cover grammar adequately! He also taught us the rudiments of composition in Tamil, making us write small pieces on concrete objects like cow, sky, water, and abstract ideas like devotion,etc.It was only later that we learned to write composition in English. Those days we would not mug up and so our answers in English lessons would be in the form of short essays! It had to be grammatically correct. Later, in college, we learned idioms, usage, and other finer aspects. But our main exposure was to anthologies of essays- and they were very fine and later we realised, truly representative! We also had some good compilation by Indian professors like G.K.Chettur, K.P.K.Menon Today, all this is changed and most essays, and poems, selected are by Indian writers who cannot write real English because they cannot think English. They use words as children use coins.
Later, I came to know that in the St.Joseph's College,Trichy, they used to dedicate Thursday afternoons just for composition- making all streams of degree students sit in a huge hall and write composition, attempt translations, etc! And their answer books were religiously evaluated and returned on the next Thursday! This might not have turned every one into a writer, but most of them could at least write correct English. Such things go to make the reputation for the college. But today, things are drastically changed.
We have lacked purely literary magazines, promoting essays. In the 60s, we had 'Imprint' which carried stories, poems, serialisation of novels and other good pieces of literature, including serious writing. I remember reading a whole lot of good stuff in it:: Nevil Shute (Trustee From the Tool Room), J.B.Priestley (Saturn Over the Water), Alan Moorehead (The Blue Nile, The White Nile) Freya Stark, Hammond Innes, Helen McInness( Double Image, Decision at Delphi),Alistair MacLean (Ice Station Zebra, Fear is the Key), Harper Lee (To Kill a Mocking Bird) H.V.Hodson (Great Divide), The Peter Principle., Psychic (about Peter Hurkos), Ruth Praver Jhabvala, Aubrey Menen, Nayantara Sehgal, Nissim Ezekiel's poems, Shakespeare' Sonnets, and numerous other books. But it did not contain essays. For essays we had to look elsewhere.
Luckily, I chanced upon Swarajya which contained essays by Rajaji, Khasa, and Pothan Joseph, Lobo Prabhu. I learned from those pages about N.Raghunathan and his essays in the old Swatantra magazine (writing under the pseudonym Vigneshwara) I got hold of the copies in book form (3 volumes , named 'Sotto Voce'). They were indeed fabulous- brimming with wit,wisdom, satire and above all, allusions to the Classics. Whether taking Nehru to task for his vague socialistic pattern or crossing swords with Sir C.V.Raman for his remarks on the Indians' fondness for chillies, his mastery over subtle wit, and words has to be read to be believed.After all these years, I have not come across another Indian who could or has written like him. Alas, he languished as an editorial writer in the Hindu, largely unknown to the world. But his translations of Ramayana and Bhagavatam are fabulous literary pieces. His essays are the finest fruit of the confluence of two mighty streams- traditional Indian learning and mastery over Western Classical tradition. That is scholarship at its noblest and best.
Since I was Tamil Nad based then, we had familiarity only with the Hindu, which, as A.S.Raman once remarked, one could read "till the cows came home"! It was noted (then) for its sedate reporting and sober views, usually favouring the establishment. It carried articles on many subjects, mostly serious.Even interesting items would take on the hue of boring school lesson in its pages! But one piece by R.K.Narayan in 64 or 65 I still remember: we had rice shortage then, and politicians were advising us to change our food habits and take to wheat. But where was good wheat to be found? In ration shops? Where was the fuel (kerosene) for the stove, which was rationed and available mostly in the black ? And who would teach our womenfolk how to make rotis, since they could only make chapatis like "compressed leather"! It was R.K.Narayan at his sparkling best! He was a great essayist, and luckily, his essays are now available in book form.
Later, he wrote a strong essay containing a scathing attack on those who mauled his novel "The Guide" in the name of producing a motion picture. He literally poured scorn and ridicule on those associated with it, and especially tore Pearl S.Buck who wrote the screenplay, and Tad Danielewski, the Hollywood director to pieces.. He narrated their foolish attempt to get the endorsement of Queen Elizabeth through Mountbatten for the film! It was a very fine piece of serious writing, making me wonder whether the mild author of Malgudi and English Teacher could be so excited! The article appeared I think in 'Life' magazine and attained international circulation. Not much was heard of the director later.
R.K.Laxman is famous as a cartoonist; perhaps, not many people know that he is a delightful writer too! Each of his cartoons is equal to three essays, but his essays are also entertaining! They too are available in book form.
The Indian Express was not much of a newspaper then, but it used to carry very good articles. One was a series by Frank Wright with the title "Unfit to Command". It dealt with leaders who were sick and unable to do justice to their task, and messed up things. It was shocking to find Franklin Roosevelt among them! It seems he was paralysed and not in full command or even awareness of his faculties, when the peace treaty was concluded at the end of the War. It was much later we came to know that it was true.However, easily the best writing there was by Frank Moraes himself. His Sunday column on 'Men, Matters, Memories' in the name of Ariel was wide ranging. Few Indians could write with such felicity. But his best was the special column he wrote on Mondays, especially on the art of writing- as guidance to youngsters! This was great service indeed. He was an Oxonian, and he could write! For a long time, I had those articles with me.
The Illustrated Weekly was an institution by itself.(though a poor copy of American Life magazine.) There was a charm about it, with those nice,large photos. It carried very good essays (called articles). I used to read avidly the column "Chiaroscuro" by A.S.Raman. The essays by R.G.K. were learned and almost like essays in a college anthology. There were occasional photo-essays by other famous writers like M.Krishnan , and Nirad Chaudhury. I gave up reading the magazine after Khushwant Singh took over as I did not like his approach.
In the mid-60s, The Hindustan Times group in Delhi started a weekly magazine called 'Weekend Review', with Prem Shankar Jha as editor. It was patterned after the American 'Time' and 'Newsweek'. There was always an article or two worth reading. It was the time of drought, and the first issue carried a picture of the parched earth on its front cover. The lead article was titled "Time Running Out" by P.S.Jha. It really highlighted the gravity of the situation. I think the magazine did not long survive. Today, we have any number of such magazines, but none having any literary value, and none worth reading.
In the Tamil world, we had some good essayists, but only a very few. Kalki was good either on social issues or on art, like music review. We had Ka.Sri.Sri and Nadodi writing humorous essays. Bakyam Ramaswamy wrote humorous pieces but they were really in the form of short story, rather than essay. Though many articles appeared on many subjects, these were not essays as such. We had Ki.V.Ja, Justice Maharajan, Somu, P.Sri. writing essays on serious literary or religious themes.I think the Tamil audience could not take more. The problem is like this: Writing in Tamil reduces the work to a rather elementary level. The non-initiated would find even this tough, while the educated would prefer to go to the English source. A.N.Sivaraman, as editor of the Tamil Daily 'Dinamani' used to write articles on economic matters in Tamil. Frankly, for a student of economics, this was too elementary, while for the common man, it would go above his head! In the circumstances, essay has not developed as a valuable literary form in Tamil. But in its day, magazines like Manjari and Kalaimagal did carry learned articles by great writers like Dr.U.Ve.Swaminatha Iyer, Namakkal Ramalingam Pillai. The Deepavali special numbers of the great old Tamil magazines were real treats, containing good articles/essays. It would be a treasure if such articles are collected in book form. Some collections of Dr.Iyer's essays were indeed published long ago. Today, it is only CHO's 'Tughlaq' which can make any literary or even artistic claim.
On the whole then, the essay has not evolved as a great literary form in India. There are no purely literary magazines. But there have been and are individual essayists, and the newspapers do carry their essays.
Note:
The essay can be highly entertaining and very informative. The selections made in the olden days for college courses were quite elementary. Nowadays, beautiful anthologies are available. I have found that the anthologies followed in literature courses in American Universities offer the the best material- huge selections with stunning variety and range. The books are bulky and costly but they are well annotated with lot of supplementary material. A book like the Norton or Borzoi edition is truly monumental, and if there is no external pressure, it will take months for us to complete reading them- for most of them are serious in style and subject and would make us pause and think frequently. It is a very stimulating and demanding intellectual activity, not the leisure reading on a week end. They are certainly not light, but we really learn quite a lot about many things-science, arts, literature, history-in fact a bit of everything, though at random.They contain the best introduction to some modern subjects and trends.We can get used copies in fairly good condition at a low price.The British anthologies are more conservative, and the older essays are for leisurely reading.
The essay form caught on in the US too.Benjamin Franklin, Jefferson, Washington Irving, Emerson, Thoreau, J.R.Lowell, and our inimitable Mark Twain have been the historical American greats. But it has many effective practitioners of the formal type , writing on serious matters of public interest- Noam Chomsky, Paul Krugman etc. Walter Lippmann's political essays were widely read,though later there were accusations that he was a Soviet spy. James Thurber was a humorist.Almost every great American writer has also been a great essayist- Poe, Louisa May Alcott, Hemingway, Faulkner, Scot Fitzgerald. Leading magazines like Time and Newsweek carry essays, though every article there is an essay, like the British "Economist" but they all have their political slants and special agendas.
Our introduction to the essay in India, like in other areas, has been through our school and college. We of our generation began with the dreaded little red book -Wren and Martin's Grammar and Composition.I had a particularly good teacher in the 6th and 7th standards- Sri Kreeda Rama Raju- who insisted that we learn grammar well as it was the foundation for all language skills in the future. And he used to conduct special classes for grammar every Sunday , in the open courtyard under a Tamarind tree, because school time was not sufficient and the syllabus did not cover grammar adequately! He also taught us the rudiments of composition in Tamil, making us write small pieces on concrete objects like cow, sky, water, and abstract ideas like devotion,etc.It was only later that we learned to write composition in English. Those days we would not mug up and so our answers in English lessons would be in the form of short essays! It had to be grammatically correct. Later, in college, we learned idioms, usage, and other finer aspects. But our main exposure was to anthologies of essays- and they were very fine and later we realised, truly representative! We also had some good compilation by Indian professors like G.K.Chettur, K.P.K.Menon Today, all this is changed and most essays, and poems, selected are by Indian writers who cannot write real English because they cannot think English. They use words as children use coins.
Later, I came to know that in the St.Joseph's College,Trichy, they used to dedicate Thursday afternoons just for composition- making all streams of degree students sit in a huge hall and write composition, attempt translations, etc! And their answer books were religiously evaluated and returned on the next Thursday! This might not have turned every one into a writer, but most of them could at least write correct English. Such things go to make the reputation for the college. But today, things are drastically changed.
We have lacked purely literary magazines, promoting essays. In the 60s, we had 'Imprint' which carried stories, poems, serialisation of novels and other good pieces of literature, including serious writing. I remember reading a whole lot of good stuff in it:: Nevil Shute (Trustee From the Tool Room), J.B.Priestley (Saturn Over the Water), Alan Moorehead (The Blue Nile, The White Nile) Freya Stark, Hammond Innes, Helen McInness( Double Image, Decision at Delphi),Alistair MacLean (Ice Station Zebra, Fear is the Key), Harper Lee (To Kill a Mocking Bird) H.V.Hodson (Great Divide), The Peter Principle., Psychic (about Peter Hurkos), Ruth Praver Jhabvala, Aubrey Menen, Nayantara Sehgal, Nissim Ezekiel's poems, Shakespeare' Sonnets, and numerous other books. But it did not contain essays. For essays we had to look elsewhere.
Luckily, I chanced upon Swarajya which contained essays by Rajaji, Khasa, and Pothan Joseph, Lobo Prabhu. I learned from those pages about N.Raghunathan and his essays in the old Swatantra magazine (writing under the pseudonym Vigneshwara) I got hold of the copies in book form (3 volumes , named 'Sotto Voce'). They were indeed fabulous- brimming with wit,wisdom, satire and above all, allusions to the Classics. Whether taking Nehru to task for his vague socialistic pattern or crossing swords with Sir C.V.Raman for his remarks on the Indians' fondness for chillies, his mastery over subtle wit, and words has to be read to be believed.After all these years, I have not come across another Indian who could or has written like him. Alas, he languished as an editorial writer in the Hindu, largely unknown to the world. But his translations of Ramayana and Bhagavatam are fabulous literary pieces. His essays are the finest fruit of the confluence of two mighty streams- traditional Indian learning and mastery over Western Classical tradition. That is scholarship at its noblest and best.
Since I was Tamil Nad based then, we had familiarity only with the Hindu, which, as A.S.Raman once remarked, one could read "till the cows came home"! It was noted (then) for its sedate reporting and sober views, usually favouring the establishment. It carried articles on many subjects, mostly serious.Even interesting items would take on the hue of boring school lesson in its pages! But one piece by R.K.Narayan in 64 or 65 I still remember: we had rice shortage then, and politicians were advising us to change our food habits and take to wheat. But where was good wheat to be found? In ration shops? Where was the fuel (kerosene) for the stove, which was rationed and available mostly in the black ? And who would teach our womenfolk how to make rotis, since they could only make chapatis like "compressed leather"! It was R.K.Narayan at his sparkling best! He was a great essayist, and luckily, his essays are now available in book form.
Later, he wrote a strong essay containing a scathing attack on those who mauled his novel "The Guide" in the name of producing a motion picture. He literally poured scorn and ridicule on those associated with it, and especially tore Pearl S.Buck who wrote the screenplay, and Tad Danielewski, the Hollywood director to pieces.. He narrated their foolish attempt to get the endorsement of Queen Elizabeth through Mountbatten for the film! It was a very fine piece of serious writing, making me wonder whether the mild author of Malgudi and English Teacher could be so excited! The article appeared I think in 'Life' magazine and attained international circulation. Not much was heard of the director later.
R.K.Laxman is famous as a cartoonist; perhaps, not many people know that he is a delightful writer too! Each of his cartoons is equal to three essays, but his essays are also entertaining! They too are available in book form.
The Indian Express was not much of a newspaper then, but it used to carry very good articles. One was a series by Frank Wright with the title "Unfit to Command". It dealt with leaders who were sick and unable to do justice to their task, and messed up things. It was shocking to find Franklin Roosevelt among them! It seems he was paralysed and not in full command or even awareness of his faculties, when the peace treaty was concluded at the end of the War. It was much later we came to know that it was true.However, easily the best writing there was by Frank Moraes himself. His Sunday column on 'Men, Matters, Memories' in the name of Ariel was wide ranging. Few Indians could write with such felicity. But his best was the special column he wrote on Mondays, especially on the art of writing- as guidance to youngsters! This was great service indeed. He was an Oxonian, and he could write! For a long time, I had those articles with me.
The Illustrated Weekly was an institution by itself.(though a poor copy of American Life magazine.) There was a charm about it, with those nice,large photos. It carried very good essays (called articles). I used to read avidly the column "Chiaroscuro" by A.S.Raman. The essays by R.G.K. were learned and almost like essays in a college anthology. There were occasional photo-essays by other famous writers like M.Krishnan , and Nirad Chaudhury. I gave up reading the magazine after Khushwant Singh took over as I did not like his approach.
In the mid-60s, The Hindustan Times group in Delhi started a weekly magazine called 'Weekend Review', with Prem Shankar Jha as editor. It was patterned after the American 'Time' and 'Newsweek'. There was always an article or two worth reading. It was the time of drought, and the first issue carried a picture of the parched earth on its front cover. The lead article was titled "Time Running Out" by P.S.Jha. It really highlighted the gravity of the situation. I think the magazine did not long survive. Today, we have any number of such magazines, but none having any literary value, and none worth reading.
In the Tamil world, we had some good essayists, but only a very few. Kalki was good either on social issues or on art, like music review. We had Ka.Sri.Sri and Nadodi writing humorous essays. Bakyam Ramaswamy wrote humorous pieces but they were really in the form of short story, rather than essay. Though many articles appeared on many subjects, these were not essays as such. We had Ki.V.Ja, Justice Maharajan, Somu, P.Sri. writing essays on serious literary or religious themes.I think the Tamil audience could not take more. The problem is like this: Writing in Tamil reduces the work to a rather elementary level. The non-initiated would find even this tough, while the educated would prefer to go to the English source. A.N.Sivaraman, as editor of the Tamil Daily 'Dinamani' used to write articles on economic matters in Tamil. Frankly, for a student of economics, this was too elementary, while for the common man, it would go above his head! In the circumstances, essay has not developed as a valuable literary form in Tamil. But in its day, magazines like Manjari and Kalaimagal did carry learned articles by great writers like Dr.U.Ve.Swaminatha Iyer, Namakkal Ramalingam Pillai. The Deepavali special numbers of the great old Tamil magazines were real treats, containing good articles/essays. It would be a treasure if such articles are collected in book form. Some collections of Dr.Iyer's essays were indeed published long ago. Today, it is only CHO's 'Tughlaq' which can make any literary or even artistic claim.
On the whole then, the essay has not evolved as a great literary form in India. There are no purely literary magazines. But there have been and are individual essayists, and the newspapers do carry their essays.
Note:
The essay can be highly entertaining and very informative. The selections made in the olden days for college courses were quite elementary. Nowadays, beautiful anthologies are available. I have found that the anthologies followed in literature courses in American Universities offer the the best material- huge selections with stunning variety and range. The books are bulky and costly but they are well annotated with lot of supplementary material. A book like the Norton or Borzoi edition is truly monumental, and if there is no external pressure, it will take months for us to complete reading them- for most of them are serious in style and subject and would make us pause and think frequently. It is a very stimulating and demanding intellectual activity, not the leisure reading on a week end. They are certainly not light, but we really learn quite a lot about many things-science, arts, literature, history-in fact a bit of everything, though at random.They contain the best introduction to some modern subjects and trends.We can get used copies in fairly good condition at a low price.The British anthologies are more conservative, and the older essays are for leisurely reading.
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