A World of Contemporary Fairy Tales

"Tokyo Cancelled" the debut novel of Rana Dasgupta talks about thirteen passengers stranded at an airport. A Ukrainian merchant is led by a wingless bird back to a lost lover; a man who edits other people's memories has to confront his own past; an entrepreneur risks losing everything in his obsession with a doll; a mute Turkish girl is left all alone in the house of a German cartographer. "Tokyo Cancelled" as a novel delves into contemporary mythology and unique concepts of storytelling. Puja Goyal caught up with Rana Dasgupta to find out more about "Tokyo Cancelled".


ON THE NOVEL AS A WHOLE…

We are not used to seeing weird things happen in fairytales, like sleeping beauty sleeping for hundred years… we don't buy it. If we apply it to an urban city then cities are places we believe magic cannot happen. In "the Billionaire's Sleeps", Rajeev suffers from insomnia and his only desire is of a child who can sleep. His daughter overcompensates for his lack of sleep later on. I find it very life affirming because human-beings are unique due to their amazing sense of imagination. Celebrating ideas that are impossible to think about is a celebration of human-life.

MY FAVOURITE STORY

My favorite story is, "The House of the Frankfurt Mapmaker", and is based in Germany. It's definitely the darkest story in the book and doesn't tell you what happens to the characters in the end. I wanted readers to share with me the bewilderment that young women go through in life. There are gory implications of organ transplants and organ trafficking. Refugees and immigrants who arrive in Germany illegally often face intense fears and are often overwhelmed with the situation in front of them as they encounter activities like prostitution and organ trafficking.

ON COMPARISON WITH Gabriel García Márquez…

I haven't read a lot of Márquez. I think what people are referring to is the similarity of magical elements present in our books… While Marquez's magic is very folk, mine is related to technology, advertising and the horrors of globalization. Many leave you with a thought, which is intentional.

IN A GIST!

I'm not interested in literature prescribing questions, but more interested in literature raising questions on whether the process of economy and corporation are humanistic.

The book is very artificial like The Arabian nights and The Canterbury tales, and is not realistic. It is like being presented with a challenge to the imagination that thirteen travelers can get together to tell stories to each other. Why are we so unfamiliar with people gathering together to tell stories to each other? Kids experience this in their lives but the idea that adults can exchange wisdom through story telling is non-existent. The concept of stories serving as means of communication for adults has disappeared.

LAST WORDS...

"Tokyo Cancelled" is not designed to build a character profile for the storytellers. It's a celebration of storytelling… the last story is the only one referring to other stories… people are preoccupied with their own lives and therefore it's ironic that people aren't capable of looking beyond themselves. Here we have one group sitting together and talking about global literature; on the other hand there are characters in the stories obsessed about themselves.

Source: Vijay Times, BVT- Pg 4.
Copyright © 2005 Puja Goyal.