Logicomix Summary

http://epaper.navhindtimes.in/NewsDetail.aspx?storyid=1949912&date=2015-03-29&pageid=1

Logicomix: 

A few weeks back, I waxed eloquent about Comics.  My interlude with comics continues, thanks to libraries and bookstores in Goa and of course, patrons of exclusive comic collections. ‘The improbable material for comic book treatment’ is what has me completely hooked and I can’t seem to let it go. One such graphic novel is Logicomix – An Epic Search for Truth (I am late arriving at it , it was  launched in Greece in Sept, 2009),  a helluva highbrow comic panel about mathematical philosophy based in the later part of  nineteenth century up to the Second World War.

Scientists, philosophers and mathematicians occupy inaccessible realms in the living world, completely incomprehensible to the minds of common masses. To transpose a journey of complex mathematics, logic and philosophy interwoven with a human angle to the stories of  star performers(mathematicians in this case), coloured with family history along with raging zeitgeist, is a feat very craftily achieved by the makers of this sensational comic strip. The graphic novel is the brainchild of two Greeks viz. Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou.  The former, an international expert on the relationship of mathematics to narrative and of the fame of the bestseller Uncle Petros and Goldbach’s Conjecture (the maiden  foray which  bridged mathematics to the world of storytelling) ; and the latter, Bill Gates’ teacher, a professor of computer science at Berkeley and  the author of a novel on Alan Turing( the father of computer science, we recently watched him in Imitation Games).  The art was done by Alecos Papadatos (clean line drawings made famous by Herge’s Tintin series) and Annie Di Donna (color) who went location-hunting to original storyscapes on this pretext.  

It is a quest of Bertrand Russell (the British mathematician, philosopher, logician, reformer, pacifist and activist) for foundational logic in mathematics.  An orphaned, insecure, insomniac teenager with a history of raving family madness and mystery is driven by demons in his restless fearful mind (he is preyed by the idea bordering on certainty that he will go mad one day) to find a secure logical explanation to incongruities in his life  and the living world he sees around him. His epic obsessive search to find truth, through certainty and logic in mathematics (which should answer all conundrums of creation) spanning decades, in tandem with the work of historical figures like Leibniz, Boole and his contemporary sworn-logicians  Gottlob Frege, Georg Cantor( the inventor of set theory)  and many other madmen of sciences, forms the idealistic core of the book(a mathematics scholar could most proficiently write a thesis paper outline with it). Whitehead the co-author of his great work Principia Mathematica and argumentative brilliant pupil Wittgenstein (who constantly challenged and spurred him on), too, form a major part of the narrative.

The frame of the comic panels switches between two threads – The story of Bertrand Russell and his geek buddies and the creators of the novel in the studio space arguing over cups of coffee, brainstorming and commenting on Russell’s mindscape, experiments, theories and personal life.  The second comic panel becomes the brilliant stroke on which the novel rides high. The creator panels and their discussions (an echo of the reader’s mind) ground the highly technical mathematical exposition into layman questions and plausible, lucid, digestible answers. Another frame to the storyline is Russell’s speech which begins the narrative and holds it in place to the end. He is invited to speak to a sceptical audience at an American University just before the US jump into WW II. The spectators want to know the logic of war and Russell answers them with the question, ‘What is Logic?’ -  taking the audience through an autobiographical  road trip of his dogged trail of finding logic through the father of logic – mathematical philosophy. His hard hitting attempts and decades of study to find logical provable equations to every unproven axiom and hypothetical assumptions (e.g. concept of infinity) on which mathematics is based, nearly drove him to insanity - the very blackness he was trying to escape.

The age old pursuit of man to rationally comprehend the world by reason (the basis of science, medicine, technology, wars in the modern world) lures the reader into the thick of the argument with Bertrand Russell to have Kurt Godel the mathematician announce "There will always be unanswerable questions," and that arithmetic is "of necessity incomplete" –toppling the very basis of logic.  In the end, Russell seeks saving grace for his soul by becoming a pacifist and a humanist seeking ethics and a peaceful world. A line echoed by Stephen Hawking too in The Theory of Everything – that as long as there is life there is hope, but to pinpoint the pulse of life is a futile endeavour.

The novel ends with the comic creators walking to a Greek amphitheatre where they watch Oresteia, a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus ( the first play of the series  Agamemnon, was staged in Kala Academy last month),  succinctly culminating the treatise with the climax that life is greater than logic.

Logicomix then becomes a masterpiece in equating logic to a comical quixotic quest to unravel the flawed fabric of reality. The ambiguity of truth and the conundrum of ‘madness and logic’ surface as prominent fallouts.

That such polemics is the heartthrob of Logicomix is a loud statement in itself!  Kudos!

The Marg Magazine

Comics Galore!

That Marg, A Magazine of the Arts, in its current edition should be about Comics in India is a profound statement in itself (an encyclopaedia of Indian art, the magazine was launched in 1946, with Mulk Raj Anand as the founding editor).  It tables essays and graphics on the journey of comics from a heady content of superheroes and teen romances to the concurrent complex narratives; psychological, theological, scientific, autobiographical, subversive and socio-political in content, challenging adult readers alike. The present issue of Marg is guest edited by Aniruddha Sen Gupta.  

The fact that there is active exploration and scholarly studies in universities across the globe and creators prefer to be hailed as comic creators rather than art-literature artists, or other euphemisms (graphic novelists, sequential artists etc.) is indicative that comics have arrived in the high brow milieu of arts. Underhand borrowings of pop artists from comics in the mid 20^th century to an open collaboration between iconic  art and comics is fast blurring the lines between these  acclaimed  genres  of creativity.

It is indeed interesting to unearth the trajectory of the comics in India and abroad begun in the 19^th century. The process illuminates the deep troughs that the illustrated art charted, to the sporadic peaks which began in the latter part of the 20^th century. If Punch(UK) ,Raw(US) and Bandes dessinee(France)  were making breakthroughs in the West , the Japanese Manga comics, Avadh Punch and Indrajaal comics in India were keeping the fires burning in the East. The avant  garde  came in through Art Spiegelman’s  Maus  (holocaust narrative), Osamu Tezuka’s  eight-part Buddha biography, and in India Sarnath Bannerjee’s  Corridor, Orijit Sen’s  River of Stories( the first graphic book in India ).  The piece de resistance of the Indian series would be the ingenious Amruta Patil’s  Kari  (a landmark  contribution to the burgeoning genre of comics).

Indian traditional visual narratives of art like Bengal Patachitras, Togalu Gombeyatta(a puppetry form from Karnatka) inform and inspire experimentation in contemporary engagements of image and words in comics. The generative oral tradition is subverted at times to hear new voices and view the frame story from a different perspective. The long love-affair of India with the two epics- Ramayana and Mahabharata thrives still, and similar is the preoccupation of Japanese Manga with historic Japanese art. But then, Manga has diversified and produced prolific works and its story of exploration and breaking barriers continues steadily.

The piece on Art in Comics by Gokul Gopalakrishnan takes the reader into shared spaces of art and comics. The fledgling forays of comic creators to incorporate art images as book covers (Army @Love) or interweave art into their storyline frames gives birth to a new hybrid language. A case in example would be the subversive adaptation of the painting Whistler’s Mother in Alan Moore’s and Eddie Campbell’s comics masterpiece From Hell.  Exploring the transfiguration of Andrew Wyeth’s painting Christina’s World,  Amruta Patil explains: “The readers’ decoding of such odes in my work is not of utmost importance. It is an additional layer that may be enjoyed by ones in the know, or by those returning for a re-read. There is, of course, a deliberate reference being made to the original master painting- i hope to be ‘found out’ but it isn’t essential to the basic reading of the tale. Some references are teasing play on the original, some are more direct. There are parallel conversations going on with different readers- conversations with readers cued in with art history. That is the fun of this medium, no?  So much room to play!” It is yet discerning for a viewer to see comic strips transposed on gallery walls, with many overlapping elements- murals, graffiti, a stand-up narrator Flaneur in the City at Galleryske Bangalore.

The craft of the genre is skilfully depicted through original image and text drawings of Orijit Sen (diary notes of River of Stories – Narmada dam and tribal habitats) and the Amruta Patil’s City of the Ninth Art.  Orijit Sen cannily captures the being of the place, the inter-textuality of emotions and deep rooted connections of land and its people in the face of man-made insensitively planned makeovers. Angouleme France’s the city of ninth art (annually hosts the International Comics festival since Francis Groux ‘fried public imagination’ with comic art in 1972) where artists breathe and sleep comics, opens new doors to readers about the culture of studio spaces and collaborative art.  Amruta attended a residency programme (“ in fact i have never been in a place with so many human beings who do what I do and do it better”) here. She packs a punch with one liners, craftily taking the reader through an innovative experience accompanied by images.

Vivek Menezes folds in a slew of information and his personal take on comics, as great reading material for kids today. A surreptitious reading (it was frowned upon by elders and thought that it made teenagers go berserk; remember the comic book villain - Dr Fredric Wertham, the psychologist who campaigned against comics)has moved to covetous realm of sought-after volumes ( Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic design by Chip Kidd, Manga Guide to Physics) by parents to guide their  children in their school curriculum and facilitate breaking hard nuts like Genetics and the Periodic Table. He cautions parents against Robert Crumbs adaptation of Genesis as a graphic novel  “keep it waiting till they grow-up”( being an Indian parent, his bookshelf creaks heavy under academia comic books rather than fun, wicked cartoon series).  His own journey with comics makes an interesting read. He puts himself on the page – a ‘foundering Indian kid’ in 1980s America who became hooked on New Yorker’s  hilarious cartoons and Doonesbury and Bloom County which turned on light bulbs pop!pop! in his mind about a foreign culture,  kept his boat floating  on an even keel in international waters.

Grassroot comics harbour powerful socio-political movements in the country and abroad. World Comics India, a voluntary non-profit organization in Delhi, trains ordinary citizens to bring forth underlying societal problems into focus for public scrutiny and debate through scroll-like comic graphics and punchy text. The common man is thus armed in remote locales, says Shared Sharma and unheard voices sound without pulling any punches into the mainstream arena. Targeted pithy prose and powerful imagery packs in a punch  - an effective medium being practiced in North East, Rajasthan, Nepal....The Don Bosco  citizen journalism one-day workshop that I attended at ICG, with Stefan K and Gauri Gharpure as  efficient resource persons, would do good to incorporate comic journalism (Comics Power!) for their students beginning with Goa and its myriad issues.

Shut Up About the Market and Show Me Your Internal Organs – by Rakesh Khanna , is a shake-up to Indian comic creators to sharpen their ware and come out with avant-garde work, to really make a mark out there on a global platform. 

The comparative study between eye-popping works available on a platter in the US, Japan and European countries– leaves a lot to be desired in the Indian comic scene. The article intrigued me to go looking for comic books  on Flipkart – Eve Gilbert’s Tits, Ass and Real Estate, Linda Barry’s One! Hundred! Demons! David B’s Epileptic. He gives it to them( an appreciative thump) who can do it: “It’s easy for me to crib about the Indian comics that I am not seeing, I am not a comics artist, and I never will be. But most importantly I am too much of a coward. I believe drawing a really great comic takes courage. If you are drawing an autobiography, it takes the courage to look hard at the ugliest things you’ve done in your life and figure out why you did them; to publish your secrets for the world to see. If you are drawing a fictional universe, it takes courage to spend years working obsessively and in isolation, and in the end, the market might completely ignore you – and you will be another broke, starving artist. That’s what I think it takes to make a really great comic.”

The reading list at the end of the magazine is to aid the interested reader to find what is out there of value in the world of comics – a prompt to devour the books and spread the word around, for nothing works better than a good word.

That now your interest is piqued and you will go in search of the comic world that we live in through the world of comics is a certainty.  Go ravish ‘em!

Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak

http://epaper.navhindtimes.in/NewsDetail.aspx?storyid=2548643&date=2015-03-01&pageid=1

                                                            The Forty Rules Of Love

Every true love and friendship is a story of unexpected transformation. If we are the same person before and after we loved, that means we have not loved enough – Elif Shafak.

Shafak's most recent novel, The Forty Rules of Love sold more than 5,50000 copies, becoming an all time best-seller in Turkey. That it has already been translated into many languages  is not surprising in the least. It would have been, if the outcome had been any different. She is the most widely read writer in Turkey and essentially every novel that she has written has been awarded and has won the attention of the literary world at home and abroad. She writes in both Turkish and English. She is rooted in her native culture like a compass with a solid centre, but her other leg travels in a wide circle touching places, people and distant borders. She weaves stories questioning the status of immigrants, the marginalized, sub cultures, women in Islam and the lost love in humanity. 

The Forty Rules of Love is a fictional endeavour to showcase the mystic essence of Islam found in Sufism. The whirling dervish dance and heretical summation of  Koranic text breaks away with rules of convention, illuminating the love and brotherhood of mankind that Islam espouses and Jihad turns out to be a struggle within to win over our nafs, pride and ego.   

The structure of the novel involves two parallel narratives – the story of a Jewish American wife Ella  in Northampton, Massachusetts devoid of love  who is transformed by an intriguing manuscript about the Sufi mystic poet Rumi and Sufi mystic  dervish Shams of Tabriz wherein two soul mates  meet and attain beatitude. The second narrative is told by a range of characters including Rumi's wife and sons, self-proclaimed guardians of Sharia, prostitutes, drunkards and other marginalized citizens of that society. The narrative is gripping, told in first-person fragments, letters, emails and braided  with Shams's theosophy as told through his 40 rules of love.

 “The 13th century was a turbulent period in Anatolia, rife with religious clashes, political disputes and endless power struggles. In the West, the Crusaders, on their way to Jerusalem, occupied and sacked Constantinople, leading to the partition of the Byzantine Empire. In the East, highly disciplined Mongol armies swiftly expanded under the military genius of Genghis Khan. In between, different Turkish tribes fought among themselves while the Byzantines tried to recover their lost land, wealth and power. It was a time of unprecedented chaos when Christians fought Christians, Christians fought Muslims, and Muslims fought Muslims. Everywhere one turned, there was hostility and anguish, and an intense fear of what might happen next. In the midst of this chaos lived a distinguished Islamic scholar, known as Jalal Al-Din Rumi. Nicknamed Mawlana -Our Master- by many, he had thousands of disciples and admirers from all over the region and beyond, and was regarded as a beacon to all Muslims.

In 1244, Rumi met Shams - a wandering dervish with unconventional ways and heretical proclamations. Their encounter altered both their lives. At the same time it marked the beginning of a solid, unique friendship that Sufis in the centuries to follow likened to the meeting of two oceans. By meeting this exceptional companion, Rumi was transformed from a mainstream cleric to a committed mystic, passionate poet, advocate of love and originator of the ecstatic dance of the whirling dervishes, daring to break free of all conventional rules.

In an age of deeply-embedded bigotries and clashes, he stood for a universal spirituality, opening his doors to people of all backgrounds. Rumi stood up for an inner-oriented jihad where the aim was to struggle against and ultimately prevail over one's ego, nafs.

Not everyone welcomed these ideas, however, just as not everyone opens their hearts to love. The powerful spiritual bond between Shams and Rumi became the target of rumor, slander and attack. They were misunderstood, envied, vilified, and ultimately betrayed by those closest to them. Three years after they met, they were tragically separated.

But the story didn't end there. 
In truth, there never was an end. Almost eight hundred years later the spirits of Shams and Rumi are still alive today, whirling amid us somewhere...”

The novel celebrates love, in myriad hues. Love between soul mates, man–woman love, and love for all of humanity. Ella leads a colourless life with grown-up children and an unfaithful husband. She is given the assignment of reading a book Sweet Blasphemy written by Aziz Zahara by her literary agency. The latter forms the second narrative in the novel.

Ella’s story is predictable and also seems a bit contrived. It is the second narrative about Rumi and Shams of Tabriz which really is of paramount importance, and holds the reader. It is indeed a triumph on which the book sails high. A prophecy leads them to each other resulting in an encounter where they first test each other, become firm friends and then love each other. A coming together which transforms each, such that Shams of Tabriz surrenders his life to the conniving hatred of his friend’s family(they are driven to desperation because of the complete change in Rumi, who no longer connects to them) and Rumi becomes a passionate poet, a mystic. He writes transformative poetry which generations can never get enough of, leading all followers to a love which breaks away from conventions and is pristine in its purity and form.

The two stories work together to allude to the forty rules of love which are revealed in italics through the novel. A very Paulo Coelo like writing technique, but then it deviates from it, that there is nothing allegorical about the narrative. It is a fictionalized version of the coming together of Rumi and Shams of Tabriz, the effect of their merging mindscapes on themselves and others around them.

The forty rules of love, the treasure trove of the book, if expounded could become a treatise in themselves. Here are a few to savor and think about, for ruminate you shall; the core philosophy of Sufism:

East, west, south, or north makes little difference. No matter what your destination, just be sure to make every journey a journey within. If you travel within, you’ll travel the whole wide world and beyond.

 The quest for Love changes us. There is no seeker among those who search for Love who has not matured on the way. The moment you start looking for Love, you start to change within and without.

 Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead, let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?

 Real filth is the one inside. The rest simply washes off. There is only one type of dirt that cannot be cleansed with pure waters, and that is the stain of hatred and bigotry contaminating the soul. You can purify your body through abstinence and fasting, but only love will purify your heart.

 The whole universe is contained within a single human being—you. Everything that you see around, including the things you might not be fond of and even the people you despise or abhor, is present within you in varying degrees. Therefore, do not look for Satan outside yourself either. The devil is not an extraordinary force that attacks from without. It is an ordinary voice within. If you get to know yourself fully, facing with honesty and hardness both your dark and bright side, you will arrive at a supreme form of consciousness. When a person knows himself or herself, he or she knows God.


The book is a keeper, highly recommended for a read.