The Empire of the Gun
Now that Arundhati Roy has finally felt the fiction-bug bite and decided to stop writing essays and non-fiction pieces, this may be the last collection of her non-fiction writings we see for a while.
Like her earlier, equally brilliant collection of essays, The Algebra of Infinite Justice, this book is a tour de force of intellectual ranting, drawing on impeccable research, lucid reasoning, and above all, a sense of humanism that cuts you to the bone.
Be warned: If, like me, you're a person who has strong feelings about the injustice and inhumanity perpetrated by powers and people who parade as saviours, or worse, as champions of freedom, then this book will make you angry. Very angry.
In 14 concise, factually based, and brilliantly argued pieces, some published earlier as essays, others delivered as speeches, Arundhati stands and delivers an impassioned diatribe against the excesses and immorality of American Empirical mania, the untenable exploitation of the rural poor in Madhya Pradesh by the Indian Government, the macabre manner in which the USA has rewritten the history of its incursions into South East Asia in complete defiance of the facts, a poignant and timely profile of the cantankerous crusader Noam Chomsky (or "Chompsky" as Arundhati bitingly calls him), and similar themes of injustice, state-sponsored violence and terrorism, political machinations, the murder of human rights and justice--in the name of upholding the same, and several other pitch-perfect compositions expressing the outrage we all feel on reading the newspapers every morning, but lack the eloquence and incisiveness to verbalise so perfectly as she.
I actually have the Indian edition, published recently in paperback. But since I can't seem to find a desi online bookstore dependable enough to link to, I've settled for providing links to the UK and US editions. The books may fall out of print from time to time, but trust me, they're worth ordering and waiting for, even paying a few extra bucks to get. This is an extraordinary intellectual performance, and anyone interested in true freedom of thought and cogently argued explorations of the world political situation today, can't afford not to share mindspace with Arundhati for a while.
If, as I read in Tehelka recently, Arundhati has set aside the writing of non-fiction and returned to the magical universe of imagined reality once more, then I would bet that she'll soon produce a fictional follow-up to The God of Small Things that will do India proud once more. But we'll miss her beautiful ranting and brilliant railing at American windmills and desi titans.
I tend to make big, epic predictions from time to time: Several years ago, while reviewing Naipaul's A Way in the World, I predicted that he would win the Nobel within the next few years. He did
Just last year, I predicted in not one but several articles, that the Booker winner ought to be John Banville's The Sea. I was the only one of the many writers surveyed who named The Sea. It happened to win.
I predict now that Arundhati Roy will win the Nobel Peace Prize in her lifetime. Not this year, nor this decade, but certainly in her lifetime.
Only time can prove me right or wrong in my assessment.
Time. And Arundhati herself.
