What is the point of dissing certain extremist literature?
PSA to research what you are reading.
Disclaimer: I started writing this with a completely different idea but ended up with this word-vomit which wasn’t entirely bad. Additionally, you may not agree with what I have written, even I am unsure where I stand exactly on this. Excuse me for any discrepancies.
Recently a controversy erupted at Kannur University’s inclusion of extremist texts advocating Hindutva in their M.A. Governance and Politics course. There was a demand to remove Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? by V.D. Savarkar and Bunch of Thoughts by M.S. Golwalkar, who are responsible for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) core ideology. Piqued by curiosity, I downloaded Bunch of Thoughts and perused through it.
It is what I expected. The book equalizes being an Indian to being a Hindu and encourages complete submission to propagate our nation’s values which are derived from ancient Hindu scriptures. According to Golwalker, a person of a minority religion can be considered an Indian which is conditional on his acceptance to Hindutva being the guiding star of our mother country.
The next thing I did, was obviously, look it up on Goodreads. What surprised me was that it was littered with one or two-star reviews with people simply bashing the ideology of the book instead of the text itself. There are allegations of promoting discrimination based on caste and religion and spreading lies under the garb of philosophical text among others. ‘Horrific vitriol’, ‘national shame’ and ‘bigotry as a book’ are just some illustrative discussions used in these reviews. However, this leaves me a bit baffled. Did people expect something else before reading this? Were they not aware of the author and his pedagogy?
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I read certain extremist literature to understand how their propounders justify their particular stance, especially doctrines which I am unable to reconcile with. It irks me to a hellish extent if someone criticises it based on their cemented position in the spectrum, whether it is political or not. I will not look for religious rights and secularism in a book written by RSS’s most profound thinker. It makes me wonder, do people think beforehand about what they will read or want to read? What do they expect from a book, whether it is fiction or nonfiction?
Currently, I am reading Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. I finally got to it after years of hearing whispers and observing sultry looks whenever it was mentioned in school. Now, I knew beforehand its premises and themes which revolve around incest, paedophilia, rape and murder and I had prepared myself for the goriest. Understandably, it stirred up a huge controversy with people still making podcasts and books about its impact. Published in 1955, reviews calling it "the filthiest book I have ever read" and "sheer unrestrained pornography." is justified in my opinion. However, and my opinions can be extremely disputed, such amoral and hedonistic plotlines can emerge and flourish in literature itself. I believe art has no morality, therefore it is absolved from following the rule of decency in the society.
Literature, cinema and music are the only acceptable avenues where certain themes like these can be fully explored. It is, in fact, necessary as by only such mediums does society become aware of incidents that take place, which is beyond our absolute imagination. It wasn’t that I was unaware of the concept of paedophilia but Lolita managed to shock me to my core at the justification paedophiles will give for their acts. I understood the nuances of how the protagonist selects its prey, his theories of ‘nymphets’ and the extent he will go to capture the small child. Vladimir Nabokov said “Lolita is a serious book with a serious purpose. I hope the public will accept it as such.” It is difficult to ascertain what his intentions were when he wrote this but I can speculate. Our offender is Humbert Humbert, who ravishes a prepubescent girl and calls it a love story. The character coldly questions our concept of morality and the subjectiveness behind it. That is the ultimate power of literature, everyone is right from their perspective, and it is a play of interpretations and opinions. Literature, art and cinema are the only mediums where it is somewhat acceptable for deviants to portray their deflections. I can only imagine it is a much better outlet for such types of aberrations than real life which will have legal sanctions attached to them. The only repercussions I believe will be societal shame or denunciation by people in general.
Maurice Girodias, who published Lolita believed it to be the one great modern work of art that would demonstrate once and for all the futility of moral censorship. If not art, then where can these deflections be shown? I would not like to get into the debate of moral censorship since I am not well-read enough, but I agree with Maurice. Lolita is scandalous, horrifying and abominable beyond imagination to think something of this sort happens in real life. But books like these are necessary, for a lack of a better word, a ‘fuller’ understanding of life.
I am not advocating either lewd or extremist literature here. However, I am unable to understand the incessant hate they get which is usually, without any valid criticism. Additionally, these books talk about certain themes which can have some unfavourable repercussions on society and its youth. I believe it depends on your perspective and approach to the text in context. I will not read Lolita with the expectation of a rosy romance or Bunch of Thoughts propagating values of personal freedom and integrity, but it is important to have certain rules and regulations which can help navigate these muddy waters.
Brain Food for this Week
Here I plug in whatever I am consuming. Someday I would love to write a collection of essays like Briallen Hopper talking about all the things I love in literature, pop culture and music, but that is for the future.
(Still) Reading 📖 : Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Watching 🍿 : Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass on Netflix. (Religious fanaticism)
Thank you for reading! Feedback is always welcomed.
Warm Wishes.