Movement of the people

Arguably, to write a work of fiction, all one needs is imagination, whereas non-fiction requires knowledge about the subject matter. I don’t know whether this makes it easier to write fiction than non-fiction, but it is certainly easier to write about non-fiction than fiction. To write about a book on, say, international labour mobility in the twenty first century, one needs to answer a few questions: what is the book’s central claim; is this claim novel; and is it credible? How does one write about a novel about migration?

Even that question might be problematic! How does one decide what’s a novel about? What’s the purpose of a novel? To preach or proselytise? To educate, or persuade? Is it a work of polemics, or entertainment? I guess many a seminar in literature departments of many a university would have failed to reach answers to these questions. One simple approach, necessarily subjective, would perhaps start with the notion that a novel ultimately has to depend on the story and characters, and to write about it, one would need to answer —how do we feel about these characters and their journeys?

It was a surreal feeling reading two novels about migration —international labour mobility in the twenty first century — back in late March, when labour mobility around the world screeched to a halt. Modern world has seen economic disruptions, natural disasters, and war. They usually lead to movement of people. This time has been different. But chances are that people will be moving again soon, and Amitabh Ghosh’s Gun Island and Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West will continue to be relevant.

In the meantime, how do I feel about the two novels as works of fiction months after reading them?