HYDERABAD: In the city for a series of talks and interactive sessions organised by Alliance Francaise, author Ananda Devi shares her thoughts on her books that brought her critical claim in a career spanning over three decades. “I am always attracted towards muted, stifled voices and marginalized sections,” says Ananda Devi whose novels, Rue La Poudriere, Le Rêve carnassier and L’Arbre-fouet, among others established her as one of the most respected voices in French-language literature from the Indian Ocean. It is the pain and the anguish of the unheard voices that compels her to write. “I am not a feminist. It is just that I am drawn towards the unheard voices in the society and more often than not, it is the woman’s voice which is silenced,” says Devi who explores the emotional and psychological violence in humans through her writing. “My books are an attempt to explore the ‘why of violence’. Mankind is the only animal capable of conscious cruelty,” says Devi. “Writers do not have answers but only questions,” she quickly adds.
A prodigy, Devi won a literary prize for a short story in a contest organized by the French radio and television at 19. “I like books that are literary. Also, I like to read books that address certain important issues and provide some insight,” says Devi adding that her books are not easy to read. “I don’t write lightly. My writing is harsh and not easy to digest. But I believe that is my strength,” says Devi. Not surprisingly, by virtue of the radical subjects dealt with in her books, commercial success is not a priority, believes Devi. “I never wrote to be a bestseller. I have to be faithful to what I write. I am not going to sit down and write something that will be accessible,” says Devi who loves to read Tony Morrison and JM Coetzee, among others. An ethnologist and a doctor of social anthropology apart from being a translator, Devi’s characters are by and large caught in the vortex of religion, norms of society and stereotypical identities and culture of violence. “Writers explore several pertinent issues, but they have no nationality. I would think an aspiring writer needs to constantly work towards his or her writing and not be easily satisfied. One must just keep on writing,” says she, adding “It is not easy to get published.”
Although books by Ananda Devi have been translated into several languages, Devi, fluent in English and Creole, herself translated her novel, ‘Pagli’ into English. “There is a greater market for English,” she admits. After a pause, she continues,”I am not very sure but I think a lot of publishers look for an American way of telling stories. On the contrary, literary French explores the language rather than telling a story,” says Devi who finds interaction with her readers an enriching experience. “Feedback is important. Writing is very solitary. It is only when you meet your readers that your book comes alive. I remember how at a book fair in France, a lady came up to me and said that she is Pagli,” says Devi with a smile. “ As a woman, I tend to juggle so many activities that i can write anywhere and anytime, even while travelling,”she says before signing off.
