‘The author must obsessively exile or exorcise themselves from the novel’: Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari
‘I had to learn everything from scratch, for long and alone, and since I was a Malayalam medium student, this ‘everything’ included the English language, too.’
Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari’s debut novel, Chronicle of an Hour and a Half, imagines the worst of mob culture, moral policing, and misogyny. Set in Areekode, Kerala – which is also where the author lives – a rumour of an illicit affair takes on a life of its own, fuelled by feverish, relentless WhatsApp messages. As chaos ensues, the small town erupts into violence and a mob takes to the street, baying for blood.
Kannanari employs the voices of a dozen or so characters to tell the story of how loose tongues, callous gossiping, and brute machismo can prove deadly even for two adults engaged in a consensual relationship. The novel forces us to consider how “mobs” are made and what entices “regular” people to turn murderous.
In an interview with Scroll, the author talked about the cultures that allow such heinous crimes, the writers who made him one, and why political correctness as a writer will never bother him. Excerpts from the interview:
On the very first page, we encounter an interesting phrase. Nabeesumma says, “...He gave me sons.” When it is commonly the other way around. Tell us about making this unusual choice – especially, distancing the mother from her child at the very beginning.
This is correct. In fact, the...
Read more
