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Jayaprakash Satyamurthy's Reviews > Song of Kali
Song of Kali
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Does for India what Heart Of Darkness did for Africa; uses it as a setting for a tale of unease and terror that could have been set anywhere, really, except that using a third-world setting plays to the western gallery's delicate sensibilities.
This is a superbly structured and masterfully woven horror novel; it's also a fucking travesty of the real nature of Kali and her various manifestations. He's taken a unique female power-divinity, something with no parallel in any other living religion, and reduced her to a 'bitch goddess' of evil.
And I wish that westerners would do a little homework. Nobody spells their name Jayaprakesh. Jayaprakash, sure. Jaiprakash, even. Not Jayaprakesh. Thanks very much kindly. For all the play Simmons makes of Indians mangling English he certainly doesn't hesitate to mangle Indian names.
Oh, it also grated on me that all the chapters have an epigram taken from an Indian writer except the one chapter that lets in a note of hope and therefore has to return to the light of western civilization with a quote from W.B. Yeats.
Despite all that, a 3-star rating; it really is a very good horror novel. But it does convince me more than ever that writers tread on uncertain ground when they venture outside their own cultural contexts.
This is a superbly structured and masterfully woven horror novel; it's also a fucking travesty of the real nature of Kali and her various manifestations. He's taken a unique female power-divinity, something with no parallel in any other living religion, and reduced her to a 'bitch goddess' of evil.
And I wish that westerners would do a little homework. Nobody spells their name Jayaprakesh. Jayaprakash, sure. Jaiprakash, even. Not Jayaprakesh. Thanks very much kindly. For all the play Simmons makes of Indians mangling English he certainly doesn't hesitate to mangle Indian names.
Oh, it also grated on me that all the chapters have an epigram taken from an Indian writer except the one chapter that lets in a note of hope and therefore has to return to the light of western civilization with a quote from W.B. Yeats.
Despite all that, a 3-star rating; it really is a very good horror novel. But it does convince me more than ever that writers tread on uncertain ground when they venture outside their own cultural contexts.
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April 7, 2011
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April 7, 2011
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This kind of novel using India like this i wonder if indian writers has written.
From what I read of inner-city crime and urban decay in the US or glue sniffing yobs in the UK, it seems to me that it's only cultural myopia that limits these problems to the 'third world'. Most Indian writers set novels in India and offer their own takes on our social problems and rich cultural heritage. We usually get the names and dialect right, unlike Simmons. My own short story 'Come Tomorrow' uses elements of the terrifying nature of Indian slums and the darker corners of our folklore. But Kali is not a dark force - she was created to slay a demon and only the un-righteous need fear her. Simmons has done done for her what the Christians did for Lilith, Ishtar and so on.
The one statement in this book that I do wholeheartedly agree with is when Amrita says that the caste system is unique and evil. It is, and to my mind its persistence nullifies many of the virtues people claim for our culture.
I have to differ about the notion of righteous destruction. Lifton's point about 'destroying the world in order to save it' applies to all cultures. The basic premise that there exist people (and supernatural forces) that deserve to suffer is destructive in itself, regardless of particulars.As for mispronunciations (and lousy transcriptions), the problem is scarcely a new one. I think it was Herodotus who expressed puzzlement that all Persian names ended with the same suffix. But they didn't--except in Greek renderings of the names.
It's still annoying. And easier not to be annoyed when it's a foreign or dead culture being rifled about with.
>>The basic premise that there exist people (and supernatural forces) that deserve to suffer is destructive in itself, regardless of particulars. I'm with you on that. But when I post a review like this, I always dread the responses from people telling me to make allowances for outsider perspectives on a culture. In my very first published short story, I had a derogatory reference to 'the sky-god, Yah-Way' (uttered by a deity from a different religion) which I was asked to remove because it may 'hurt sentiments'. And yet, it seems I'm expected not let my own sentiments be hurt when the tables are turned.
We've come to a strange place when we regard our fellow humans as 'outsiders'. I've had to quote the African/Roman playwright twice in about a month "Homo sum. Humani nihil a me alienum puto" ("I am a human being. I consider nothing human alien to me"). But he added 'except cruelty'.I'm not personally offenced by criticism of religions. I consider it a perversion that the People of The Book in general have been interdicting criticism of their beliefs for many centuries. One of the consequences of proselytization, I suppose, except that the creeds forbid INTERNAL criticism, as well. That's one of the reasons I like Ellis Peters' book The Heretic's Apprentice, and (on another front), James White's The Genocidal Healer (though, since White spent a lot of time in Northern Ireland during 'The Troubles', he does tend to fall into the 'Is he a Protestant Buddhist or a Catholic Buddhist?' trap).
I don't think any religious or philosophical beliefs should be immune to criticism--but I do agree that the critics should do their homework very thoroughly first.
Interesting, thanks. I, too, really liked the book, but was curious to hear an Indian person's opinion.
He has mangled names before. His Abominable had a Sherpa character whose first name was Rabindranath. It was extremely well-researched as far as the geography of Everest went, but very lazy when it came to naming characters of Asian ethnicity.
He's got some xenophobic tendencies, so I'm not surprised. I'm white as heck and I became distinctly uncomfortable with how he portrayed Indians.
Thank you. I think I'll avoid this – although as much because I don't need dark and horror at this time as because I don't need/want xenophobia. Helpful review!
I agree. It's a fun book but a 1930s like view of Kali. The author should have done his homework before portraying her as a "goddess of evil" (which she isn't at all)
I just started reading the novel and the first thing I thought was "this reminds me of Heart of Darkness". But not in a good way. Eek. The writing may be good, but I think I will pass on this one.
I was really torn when I came across this title. It seemed to have an interesting plot, possibly a new spin on the over done "anything unorthodox or different is bad" shtick you tend to see. After reading these reviews however, I will skip. Kali is a goddess I view very highly and am disappointed by the lack of validation her other aspects receive.
Question.... this is a fiction book yes for it seems some actuallytake a fiction book for full..........
Also I agree with your comment regarding a female goddess, why does she have to be such a negative character? I thi k this author was quite misogynistic in his writings. Could never take him seriously as a writer.
Please disregard my comment about the misogyny I got gim confused there with another writer, but I still agree with this portrayal of powerful women as evil.
The worst thing I found about this enjoyable but non-essential Simmons novel was the way the protagonist kept calling his wife “kiddo“! Like who does this. I’d get a fucking slap if I called the missus kiddo. Ekelhaft! Novel was well researched in some ways, in others not so much
"And I wish that westerners would do a little homework. Nobody spells their name Jayaprakesh." Really? A quick google shows that is incorrect. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
May be Dan Simmons (his Hyperion was a total loss for me after which I decided not to read any of his books) had Jaya P. Rakesh in mind. ;-)
Jayaprakash wrote: "From what I read of inner-city crime and urban decay in the US or glue sniffing yobs in the UK,."Great point. Also there are the duo Bhadra Kali and Veerabhadra created by Shiva from his hair locks to defeat Daksha after Sati self-immolates at her father Daksha's yanya.
Valerie wrote: "We've come to a strange place when we regard our fellow humans as 'outsiders'. I've had to quote the African/Roman playwright twice in about a month "Homo sum. Humani nihil a me alienum puto" ("I a..."Sanatana dharma reinvents itself after self-critique. It happened several times. Internal criticism is not only not forbidden, it is even welcomed. It is called tarka.
Anandaroop wrote: "He has mangled names before. His Abominable had a Sherpa character whose first name was Rabindranath. It was extremely well-researched as far as the geography of Everest went, but very lazy when it..."Rabindarnath/Robindranath name itself is not mangled. But it is not a name a sherpa would take. It is a Bengali name - the famous name sake being the first Indian Nebl Laureate Rabindranath Tagore (Ravindranath Tagore).
Razer wrote: "Question.... this is a fiction book yes for it seems some actuallytake a fiction book for full.........."Fiction generally reflects some aspect of society in general. So yes, it is totally valid to complain about misrepresentations.
Hala wrote: ""And I wish that westerners would do a little homework. Nobody spells their name Jayaprakesh." Really? A quick google shows that is incorrect. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2......"Look at the author's name. JP himself used to spell his name as Jayaprakash (Narayan). You are nitpicking.
The horror of colonialism is a major theme of heart of darkness. It couldn’t be “set anywhere “
I don't think that HEART OF DARKNESS could be set just anywhere. Though it needn't be set in Africa, it could be set in any of the numerous lands conquered by the major European empires of the pre-World Wars era.
The setting for Heart of Darkness was perfect and most certainly could not "be anywhere" and it is doubtful you've read it to make that claim. There are various forms of Kali. There are different origin stories of Kali. All involve death and destruction and rage. The Bengali version is seen as benign, the Indian Kali versions, not so much. I'll withhold judgement on Mr Simmons' treatment until I've read the book.
As far as name spelling, I found over dozen "Jayaprakesh" on LinkedIn, a Jayaprakesh Silks company, and a Rev. Dr. Jayaprakesh - all apparently spelling their names wrong.
This "review" seems to have an objective other than reviewing the book.
Your comment: "...that could have been set anywhere, really..." was interesting because goes right to the heard of the story and something that was discussed by the characters themselves at one point. Are (were) the problems of Calcutta such as you might find in any other third world city or is there something unique about them?