Early 2017 promises two excellent collections of poetry. Arjun Rajendran’s tentatively titled Cosmonaut in Herge’s Rocket, due from Paperwall, promises to be a ride that is both cerebrally witty and wittily cerebral. In addition, Rajendran retains a sharp sensitivity towards the general state of affairs, such that his poems often delight with their well-disguised politics.
The second collection that is much anticipated is Sumana Roy’s How I Became a Tree. Readers of contemporary Indian poetry in English are all too well aware of Roy’s talents and achievements. Her work has been widely published, anthologized, and celebrated. With her, it has often been a question of: ‘How come there isn’t a Roy collection out yet?’ Well, that anomaly is being addressed in February or thereabouts.
In fiction, the most anticipated title is Arundhati Roy’s second novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. The hype is sure to be huge, especially for those who have been pained by her long abstinence from publishing fiction while keenly following her non-fiction in the two decades between this novel and the Booker-winning first, The God of Small Things. Regarding the plot of this second novel, one finds nothing anywhere; though if I am to hazard a guess, I would say that the ‘ministry’ in the title might just be a real ministry entrusted with the task of ensuring utmost happiness. One wouldn’t put that kind of tongue-in-cheek satire beyond Roy. But then, this is mere speculation, and is likely to be way off the target.
Outside India, one of the books I’m excitedly looking forward to is Ali Smith’s ‘Autumn’, a novel that apparently begins a tetralogy of works based on seasons. Smith, whose work has been Booker-shortlisted on more than one occasion, has through her novels addressed the notions of gender and sexuality. Her work often includes characters who are comfortable being called with either pronoun, he or she, and defy gender norms routinely. Smith has a unique writing style, in which conversations and inner monologues sometimes appear as one; a style that allows for an ambiguity in identity-markers that we often take for granted in fiction.
Among commercial fiction writers, Paula Hawkins of The Girl on the Train fame returns with a new novel in 2017, titled Into the Water. Something tells me that the new novel will also fall into the domestic noir genre, something that writers like Hawkins and Gillian Flynn (author of Gone Girl, 2014) have made their own. These novels might disappoint some with their final plot twists, but more often than not, their masking of key information in the build-up is masterly and worth the price in itself.
For fans of Haruki Murakami too, there is something to cheer about in 2017. No, the Nobel remains unlikely; it is just his new book, a collection of short stories titled Men Without Women. Something tells me that some of these men are going to do really weird things.
(The writer’s first novel ‘Neon Noon’ is now available)