Building Cross Culture Literary Bridge

Anthology of Australasian Stories; Publisher; Spiny Babbler, Kathmandu,
January 2003; Editor; Brian Dibble; Pages; 296; ISBN: 99933-53-25-6            

The Rising Nepal, March 7 , 2003
By Bhimsen Thapaliya

THIS collection of literary creations from Australasian (a team denoting Australia, New Zealand and other neighboring island in the South Pacific) tries to familiarize the Nepalese readers with the contemporary works from the region. For those who want to be familiar with the latest trend of foreign writings particularly from Australia and New Zealand, this book has added a new dimension. With the hope that measures will be taken in the future to introduce the readers in the oceanic countries with the work of Nepalese writers through translation, this book has come as a commendable initiative on cultural sharing between this Himalayan Kingdom and the Continent of the Wonders.

The 48 pieces of writings that make up the anthology were collected from undergraduate and post-graduate students of creative writing. They come from 22 different institutions across Australia and New Zealand. According to the editor of the book, the styles of writing are both traditional and experimental which make the book an interesting collection. Interestingly, 39 out of the 48 pieces of works are by women writers.

Para Limbu, an editor at Spiny Babbler says that the editor of the book presents to us contemporary literature of Australasia addresses topics ranging from different lifestyles in the cities of Australia and New Zealand to socio-cultural or political issues that individuals or communities presently deal with in the region.

The literary anthology speaks through the minds of 48 creators who are stated to represent the essence of what Australasia is today the people, their beliefs, and the social values and ideals they have cultivated. Thus the book is going to offer an important insight into the Australasian life, not only in the physical sense of the word but even beyond that. In totality the book serves as the window to not only the latest trends of the Australasian writing but the social reality of the region as well. This provides the Nepalese writers an opportunity to taste the Australian writings, be surprised, bemused and confused and finally be enlightened. After reading the works adorned with wide shades of color and style, one will be naturally tempted to compare them with writings in Nepal. Further one will try to use the book as a kaleidoscopic to observe and compare the ways of life in Australia and here in Nepal, countries so removed geographically.

Spiny Babbler editor Limbu clarifies the objective with which her organization brought out the book saying, "This is the part of Spiny Babbler's multinational programme. With this publication, our organization attempts to establish international relations and help to nurture cross-cultural consciousness and appreciation among the audiences in Nepal, Australia and other parts of the world."

The book is a friction collection though some elements of drama and poetry are also mixed. Most of the writings are experimental and apply avant garde style of literary writing. A typical example of experiment can be seen in the reworking (described as the SMS version) of Shakespeare's plays Much Ado About Nothing. Act II, scene I of the play is produced in the language that is commonly used today in the Internet chatting. In fact a completely new mode of messaging has emerged with the arrival of the Internet, mobile and paging. This reworking reminds one of the telegram languages of the past that endeavored for word economy. But in contrast to telegram message, this SMS language seeks even letter economy. For example, SMS chatter uses just U instead of 'you', H8 for 'hate' and B4 for 'before'. Further, innovative abbreviations and acronyms have also come into vogue with interesting spelling shortcuts such as MYOB for 'Mind your own businesses and CUL8R in place of 'see u later'. Even symbols have replaced words such as %) means 'confused' and :*) stands to mean 'drunk". Such new experiments may even prompt the literary world to devise some new genre.

The book tries to bring variety of works together. One has a rare opportunity to be mesmerized in fantastic and diverse art of expression employed. Ten pictures that accompany the writings tries, it seems, try to give graphic dimension to literature.

But where are the mainstream and traditional writings of Australasia? These works, wrapped up in this anthology, are only the hybrid products of new generation writers. Absence of the standard works of established writers of Australia is a distressing weakness of the book. Without classical works, no hybrid and experimental writings are born.

Editor Brian Dibble, Professor of creative writing in Australia's Curtin University, wonders in his editorial note what the Nepalese reader might expect from a collection and moves on stating that New Zealand and Australia are caught between anger, fear, frustration, hatred, intolerance and prejudice. He expects the readers to comparably reach out to the world from their perspective and understand the source of this conflict.