Ishmael (and others)

I was re-reading Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie), which, in spite of being a magical realism post colonial literature, explores the theme of recurrence. Saleem (protagonist cum antagonist) discovers himself entangled, time and again in the labyrinths of  the spider webs of the past, present and even the future.

It is so beautiful to see how recurrence fails to get banally repetitive. As I read Ishamel, I could not help but relate it to Sophie's World (and even to Midnight's Children because in Ishmael, magical realism had seeped in), where young Sophie learns about human knowledge through an epistemological approach. Her mentor Alberto Knox shares basic forms of alienation with Ishmael.

Ishmael's propositions on alternate knowledge are very profound and provoking. Even though Biblical characterization and speculations on its[Bible] metaphors have been major themes in many literary works, Ishmael seems to present them in a way that makes one really ponder; mostly due to its inexorable relevance with the world we live in.

In the second page, I found something very interesting. There, Herman Hesse's Journey to the East was referred to. How Hesse failed to identify the ingredients of Leo's "awesome knowledge" was mentioned. Now, Hesse is a very favorite author of mine – owing largely, to his Western origin and Eastern interests (he also shares with me a penchant for water colors). I had read most of his books, but not chronologically.

I looked up the chronology now, just to make sure. In Siddhartha (Hesse's other novel, published in 1922, some 10 years before the publication of Journey to the East) Hesse does account for the source and making of Siddhartha's enlightenment. Had Hesse, over the course of ten years, reiterated his beliefs and concluded that it was impossible to account for a thing of such magnitude? Makes one muse; and yes, recurrence is inevitable.


I started this to write about my thoughts on the book Ishmael. Look where I ended up. Justifying Peripheral Pigments, I guess. :-)

Lately, I have been using a lot of brackets. It is the effect of Midnight's Children. I can't help it – the authors I love to read find their way of seeping into the way I write. Yeah, recurrence is inescapable. :-)