Vartalap: An Interview of Dr. Abhi Subedi by Kalpna Singh-Chitnis

Dr. Abhi Subedi is a significant name in Nepali literature. Born on June 30, 1945, in Tehrathum district in Eastern Nepal, and educated in Nepal and Scottland, he has written over four dozen books of poetry, translation, essay, and playwright. He has done several interdisciplinary studies on the subjects of freedom, culture, literature, arts and social transformations. He was given the “SAARC Literary Award” in 2010 and “Yug Kavi Siddhicharan Award” in 2013. Dr. Subedi had a career as a professor of English literature and the head of the English department at Tribhuvan University for forty years. He is the founding former President of the International Theatre Institute (ITI) UNESCO from 2000-2008 and a member of the International Playwright’s Forum from 2000-2011. Dr. Subedi, who has also been the President and two times General Secretary of the Linguistic Society of Nepal from 1990-1992 is among some the most revered writers from Nepal, who have been writing in both English and Nepali for over half a century.

It has been an absolute honor and pleasure to know Dr. Subedi since his work first appeared in Life and Legends in 2014, and interviewing him for the current edition of Life and Legends – The Echoes From The Himalayas: Contemporary Nepali Poetry and more.

KSC: You are a poet, playwright, linguist, translator, and critic. What do you like being the most?

DAS: This is a good question. I started by writing poetry, but later, seeing that writers realized they should engage in some form of meta-literary discussions, I was drawn to literary criticism. I wrote quite profusely and published several collections of literary criticism. That went hand in glove with my academic practice. But I never gave up poetry writing. I wrote that in every genre I took up. I write plays mostly these days, but my plays are largely poetic in spirit and style. I feel deep down I am a poet.

KSC: You have written over two dozen books in Nepali and English, what language are you more comfortable in writing, and why?

DAS: I think, I feel more comfortable in Nepali. But writing in English has its own attraction for me.

KSC: What inspires you to write?

DAS: Subjects that open up more possibilities or, that give space for poetic imaginings inspire me most. That means, small subjects, non-descript moments that lie forgotten but that have great inspiring strength, attract me. Big subjects or the juggernauts of any kind don’t inspire me. The small is great.

KSC: Name a few writers who have influenced your writings?

DAS: Though there are many who have influenced me, Dramatist Bala Krishna Sama and Laxmi Prasad Devkota (Nepali playwright and poet respectively), William Shakespeare, Paul Celan (German poet), Jean-Paul Sartre, Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala (Nepali novelist), Arundhati Roy (Indian novelist) are some names that I would like to mention here.

KSC: Who are your favorite Nepali writers and poets?

DAS: There are a number of them. Sama as a dramatist, Devkota, Siddhicharan Shrestha, Tulasi Diwasa, as poets and prose writers Shankar Lamichane, Parijat, and Prema Shaha have influenced me at different modes of my life.

KSC: What is the greatest satisfaction you receive from being a writer?

DAS: A realization that I have made some invention, said something that has not been told, and that I have established a deep sense of resonance with the subject that inspired me to write, is my satisfaction.

KSC: What is it that you do not like about being a writer?

DAS: A constant amorphous, un-spelled sense of accountability that is demanded of the writer is what irks me. Sometimes a sense of exasperation that comes from being unable to establish a rapport with writing and life is what I do not like. But the reality is more complicated than that. That difficulty itself is energy. So, I guess being a writer is not always easy; being out on the watch to lure the world to be part of my jouissance is the greatest challenge of being a writer.

KSC: How did you become a linguist?

DAS: My mother inspired me to study Sanskrit grammar of Panini when I was quite young. That learning was preliminary. Then, later my mother said, you should learn English. And there was J. C. Nesfield’s English grammar waiting for me. No problem. It went all hunky-dory. Being a student of English literature and language was again another mode of the hunky-dory position. Later I went to Edinburgh University to study linguistics. The semantic and stylistic aspects of that fascinated me; I studied that. It opened new grounds for literary critical studies. Then I became President of the Linguistic Society of Nepal, and a part of the modern linguistic institutional development. Have many students who are great linguists. I love linguistics.

KSC: You studied at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, but unlike many students from the eastern part of the world, who go for studying in the Western countries and get settled there, you returned to Nepal. What brought you back to live and teach in Nepal?

DAS: I went to Britain under the British Council scholarship. That was in 1978. But by the end of 1979, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher became the prime minister of Britain. Her government made cutbacks in foreign student grants. My scholarship was terminated. I was doing another course at the same university leading to Ph.D. But completed part of it with the ways shown by friends. One poet friend introduced my problems to her mother who paid my hostel fees. I was introduced to farmers on the borders of Scotland where I did strawberry picking in a valley (the included poems speak about that experience). One of the farmers whose house was a stone made a castle in the country, was the family of poet Edwin Muir. I was awed to know that. No, it never occurred to me to settle outside Nepal.

KSC: Do you find any fundamental difference between what is being written today in the East and the West?

DAS: I guess, the difference has always been there. But now the borders are fuzzy. Borders become fuzzy when I read the works of writers who so powerfully handle the themes that we have always considered as eastern, if I may use that expression. But then there are those who write for everybody living anywhere. But the post-colonial, oriental and other related discourses about communities and the overriding questions of discrimination, rights, and equalities have inspired writings. Yes, the differences are naturally there, between the western and eastern writings. But they are redefined today.

KSC: What inspired you to become a playwright? Have you also acted in the plays you have written?

DAS: The maestro of Nepali drama, playwright Bala Krish Sama (1902-1981) inspired me the most. I acted in the plays written by others. Among them, I have played roles in the plays of Shakespeare and the Nepali playwright Vijaya Malla. Apart from that, I have performed monologues and poetic moments.

KSC: You have received many awards and honors, including the SAARC Award. How do you feel about gaining such recognition?

DAS: Naturally, I feel happy. I feel very happy when I receive awards and recognition about being a playwright and a poet. Last year I received state recognition and as a playwright in Nepal, an honorary member of the International Theatre Institute (ITI) UNESCO at the world body’s 70th anniversary held in a beautiful island of China named Haikou, made possible for the ITI to organize the mega event with the generous help by the Chinese theatre. It’s not possible to mention all, but awards that respect my sense of freedom, don’t demand anything from me in return, deeply touch me.

KSC: The politics of award giving, and returning them is catching the trend in the Indian sub-continent. Have you ever found yourself in a situation when you have regretted receiving an award?

DAS: That has not occurred to me. First, I stay away from any such favors. Second, people do not approach me for the awards that are highly patronized.

KSC: Tell us about the things you value most in life. Have you written about them?

DAS: Freedom is the most precious subject for a writer, for me or any artist, for that matter. Such values can get easily bantered today with material gains. I have written on this subject in several essays and plays. My mother’s impact is significant to me as a writer. She has taught me the above, and I try to live with that. But have slipped on occasions, I must confess.

KSC: To what extent Nepali literature is recognized in the west in modern times?

DAS: For lack of proper translation, I am afraid, Nepali literature has not found good readership outside. There are some writers who write in English, but they stay abroad. Such spatial positioning and writing engender an identity, a sense that is different from that of a writer who lives here on a day-to-day basis and writes. Michael Hutt of SOAS London has done the highest service to Nepali literature in terms of introducing it to a broader audience outside. Others have done some works. Nepali literature is translated into Indian languages like Hindi and Bengali. A very prolific and talented poet and translator Suman Pokhrel has been doing great work in this direction. He has done some important works to introduce Nepali literature outside Nepal.

KSC: Are you satisfied with the translations of Nepali literature available today?

DAS: I am afraid, not. But there are a number of good translation works.

KSC: As a translator, what do you find more challenging in translating? Poetry or Prose?

DAS: I find poetry more challenging, and by the same token more fascinating.

KSC: What initiatives would you suggest to create the interest of western readers in reading literature from the east?

DAS: this is a big subject. But I have a feeling that writers of this part of the world, of what you call ‘east,’ who are doing good works outside this sphere could do a lot if they put some of their energy for that. Their number is small. But the literary institutions like the SAARC literary organization named FOSWAL led by a Punjabi fiction writer Ajeet Kaur, and others operating on a small scale in Nepal, or on an individual basis, are taking up the cudgels. The main thing is that the grounds of sharing and feeling thrilled by cross-cultural creativity should be created.

KSC: Do you recognize the role of modern Nepali literature contributing to the socio, political and cultural aspects of the democratic republic of Nepal?

DAS: There is a great role in that. But what dismays me today is that such vigilance appears to be weaker when it is most needed. Nepali fiction writers made the subject of political transition their fictional composition. But they gave too much without waiting for history to take its course. It is not only a Nepali problem. Writing everywhere by taking political times as a subject has suffered from a sense of aporia. But modern Nepali writers have created some good responses to political change. I appreciate them. I cannot discuss it all here.

KSC: Tell us about the books you have written in English, and also about your books that have been translated from Nepali into English.

DAS: I have written three kinds of books in English—creative, academic and translated. My first creative writing is a joint anthology of poems between Ramesh Shrestha, Peter Karthak and me written during the last years of the sixties and early years of the seventies when Kathmandu had become a hub of the hippies. This collection entitled Manas was published shortly after the hippie movement waned. Our poems written in English, as it was revealed by English language creative writing researchers later, was probably representative of the second generation of creative English works in Nepal, after the works of poet Laxmi Prasad Devkota. That shows how the use of English for creative writing in Nepal is different from that of India. After that I consider Chasing Dreams ( 1996), long performative poetry read and staged in Kathmandu as my best creative work in English. I wrote a poetic play in English entitled Dreams of Peach Blossoms, (2001). It was staged in Nepal, Bangladesh, and India. Then I wrote another English play entitled Bruised Evenings (2011), which uses poetic devices too with the prose work. I have published English academic works as well as translations.

KSC: What are you reading these days?

DAS: various things. Reading Wendy Doniger’s translation of The Rig Veda, Gunter Grass’ autobiography Peeling the Onion, Nepali writer Shradha Ghale’s novel The Wayward Daughter: A Kathmandu Story. She has written this in English and several other books. I read many books at one time.

KSC: What are you planning to write next?

DAS: A memoir, and a play. I have been writing essays.

KSC:  If you have one message to send out to the world, what would that be?

DAS: Literature is not dead; the author may be rhetorically dead in Roland Barthian sense, but she or he or others are not dead. Their struggle, their persona, their suffering and difficult condition (I have in mind the refugee Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian Kurd refugee who won Book Awarded 2019 by his novel entitled “The Death of Truth” written with mobile phone system), their power, their academic strength all matter. Author matters because she works with everybody else including publishers and distributors. Never even for a moment should creative writers lose their faith in creative power, which is an antidote to the violence-ridden world.

KSC: Do you have any message for Life and Legends?

DAS: I have a great appreciation for your publication that I came to know through the Nepali poet Suman Pokhrel. Your idea is noble, practical and good.

KSC:  How do you want the world to remember Abhi Subedi?

DAS: Like one ordinary writer who writes literature but firmly believes in the power and meaning of his Karma, and who loves freedom and lives for that.

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Photo courtesy: Dr. Abhi Subedi

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Kalpna Singh-Chitnis is an Indian-American Poet and Filmmaker, based in the United States.

www.kalpnasinghchitnis.com
@AccessKalpna