The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
A historical novel about a Kenyan-Indian man's coming of age, political betrayal, and the search for belonging.
Work Information
A historical novel about a Kenyan-Indian man's coming of age, political betrayal, and the search for belonging.
A historical novel about a Kenyan-Indian man's coming of age, political betrayal, and the search for belonging.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Doubleday Canada
- Published
- 2003-09-30
- Pages
- 405 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 16.61 x 3.45 x 24.16 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780385659901
- ISBN-10
- 0385659903
- Price
- 6946 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Literature & Fiction/Literary
Double Giller Prize winner M.G. Vassanji’s The In-Between World of Vikram Lall is a haunting novel of corruption and regret that brings to life the complexity and turbulence of Kenyan society in the last five decades. Rich in sensuous detail and historical insight, this is a powerful story of passionate betrayals and political violence, racial tension and the strictures of tradition, told in elegant, assured prose. The novel begins in 1953, with eight-year-old Vikram Lall a witness to the celebrations around the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, just as the Mau Mau guerilla war for independence from Britain begins to gain strength. In a land torn apart by idealism, doubt, political upheaval and terrible acts of violence, Vic and his sister Deepa must find their place among a new generation. Neither colonists nor African, neither white nor black, the Indian brother and sister find themselves somewhere in between in their band of playmates: Bill and Annie, British children, and Njoroge, an African boy. These are the relationships that will shape the rest of their lives. We follow Vikram through the changes in East African society, the immense promise of the fifties and sixties. But when that hope is betrayed by the corruption and violence of the following decades, Vic is drawn into the Kenyatta government’s orbit of graft and power-broking. Njoroge, his childhood friend, can abandon neither the idealism of his youth nor his love for Vic’s sister Deepa. But neither the idealism of the one nor the passive cynicism of the other can avert the tragedies that await them. In interviews given when the novel was published, Vassanji commented that The In-Between World of Vikram Lall is the first of his books to deal with his memories of Kenya, where he spent the first 5 years of his life: “I remember these images of fear, of terror. And I thought I had to come back to that and see the whole Mau Mau episode from the Asian point of view. I had never written a book set in Kenya, where my father was from. And when I did, I just felt good about it, because I was going back to one part, one of many homes.” The In-Between World of Vikram Lall , a compelling record in the voice of a character described as “a cheat of monstrous and reptilian cunning,” took three years to write. After research in Kenya and Britain, M.G. Vassanji devoted himself to the novel in a dark office at the University of Toronto. It was a hard process of creation and discovery, especially as Vassanji is an assiduous editor of his own work: “I come back to it over and over. For me, it’s like working on a sculpture. You sort of chip away a bit at a time until you tell yourself it’s as perfect as you can make it.” Vassanji’s fifth novel met with immense Canadian and international success. As well as making him the first author to win the Giller Prize twice, the book was a #1 national bestseller. The In-Between World of Vikram Lall is a profound and careful examination of one man’s search for his place in the world; it also takes up themes that have run through Vassanji’s work, such as the nature of community in a volatile society, the relations between colony and colonizer, and the inescapable presence of the past. It is also, finally, a deeply personal book: “The major thing that stands out in the book is people who are in-between. The feeling of belonging and not belonging is very central to the book. And that also played out in my life. When we lived in Tanzania we belonged and did not belong because we had come from Kenya. That has been a major thread in my life.”
M.G. Vassanji was born in Kenya, and raised in Tanzania. He took a doctorate in physics at M.I.T. and came to Canada in 1978. While working as a research associate and lecturer at the University of Toronto in the 1980s he began to dedicate himself seriously to a longstanding passion: writing. His first novel, The Gunny Sack , won a regional Commonwealth Writers Prize, and he was invited to be writer-in-residence at the University of Iowa. The novel’s success was a spur, Vassanji has commented: “It was translated into several languages. I was confident that this was what I could do, that writing was not just wishful thinking. In 1989 I quit my full-time job and began researching The Book of Secrets .” That celebrated, bestselling novel won the inaugural Giller Prize, in 1994. Vassanji’s other books include the acclaimed novels No New Land (1991) and Amriika (1999), and Uhuru Street (1991), a collection of stories. His unique place in Canadian literature comes from his elegant, classical style, his narrative reach, and his interest in characters trying to reconcile different worlds within themselves. The subtle relations of the past and present are also constants in his writing: “When someone asks you where you are from or who you are, there is a whole resume of who you are. I know very few people who do not have a past to explain. That awareness is part of my work.” M.G. Vassanji was awarded the Harbourfront Festival Prize in 1994 in recognition of his achievement in and contribution to the world of letters, and was in the same year chosen as one of twelve Canadians on Maclean’s Honour Roll. He lives in Toronto with his wife and two sons.
Reviews
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A great read
The In-Between World of Vikram Lall is fascinating story about Vikram, an ethnic Indian, as he grapples with the history and cultures in Kenya . Vassanji gives a good depiction of life during colonial Kenya , of how the hero came to lose his innocence as a young child and of how he came to terms with his new life. In the end, Vikram a rich but perplexing character. As someone who has lived in Africa and grappled with the different cultures and histories, I can relate to this story. Also recommended: The Union Moujik, The Usurper and Other stories, Kill me quick, Disciples of Fortune, A Blade of Grass
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語り手に感情移入できないまま、終わってしまった。
ペーパーバック: 448ページ 出版社: Canongate Books Ltd; Main版 (2005/6/2) ISBN-10: 9781841956060 のレビュー。 第１部 1953年。ケニアの美しい高原の町Nakuruでの少年時代。 vic (Vicram Lall) 語り手。 Deepa 妹 Papa(Ashok) ケニア生まれ。パンジャブ人で食料品店経営。 Mama(Sheila) 父がペシャワールに帰郷したときに会って結婚。父と同じくパンジャブ人でヒンドゥー教徒。 Dadaji おじいさん。ケニアに鉄道建設のクーリーとして移住。ペシャワール出身。 uncle Mahesh 母の兄。故郷で父に反抗し、ケニアに移住。第1部では独身。コミュニストと見られている。 Njoroge 一家の近所に住むキクユ人の少年。兄妹と遊び友達。父母は行方不明。 Mwangi Njorogeの祖父。近所で農作業や雑用をして、孫のNjorogeをあずかっている。 Bill and Annie Bruce ブリテン人の兄妹、高級食料品などを買いに母といっしょにやってくるうちに友達になる。 以上が第1部の登場人物で、ほかにも近所のインド人のコミュニティーの生活が描かれる。時代はマウマウ反乱の時代だが、インド人の親戚や知り合いの生活が描かれる。ショッキングな事件で第1部終了。 第2部は1965年。ケニア独立後、一家はナイロビに転居している。 第3部は1970年以後、語り手は大学を卒業し、政府中枢の人物に近づいていく。 という長い話であるが、語り手の内面の不安、葛藤に、わたしはまったく触れることができない。たくさんのショッキングな事件がまわりで起こるが、語り手はすべてに距離をおいて語り続ける。その語り口がこの小説の魅力かもしれないが、もやもやしたまま、あれよあれよという間に時がたち、物語が終わってしまった。 本作はカナダのGiller Prizeを受賞。著者にとって二度目の受賞で、アリス・モンローやマーガレット・アトウッドなみに評価が高い作家である。どうして、こんなに高評価なのに、わたしの波長と合わないのだろうか？ もしかするとこの小説は、グギ・ワ・ジオンゴやイサク・ディネセンの作品を読んでいる批評家や読者にとって、別のもう一つのアフリカを描いたという意味で評価されているのかもしれない。残念ながら、わたしはそれらの作品を読んでいないので、判断できない。 インド系のケニア人の生活、家族の束縛、結婚、農村の描写、首都ナイロビの描写など楽しめるところは多い。ケニア政治史の入り口にもなる。そういう意味で読んで無駄ではなかったのだが。
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This saga of an Indian family living in Kenya, told by `one of Africa's most corrupt men', sketches the (in)direct implication of its family members in Kenya's history. The Mau Mau movement of Yomo Kenyatta is fighting against the brutal British occupants (`plucking out eyes with bayonets') in order to free Kenya of its colonial regime. The Indians in that country constitute an in-between world: `we Asians were special: we were brown, we were few and frightened and we could be threatened with deportation as aliens even if we had been in the country before some African people.' Some stay neutral, but other chose sides and are directly involved in the committed atrocities. Vikram Lall's idyllic youth comes brutally to an end with the murder of a white family. After the black victory, the freedom movement and the Mau Mau are betrayed. `That ours had become a country of ten millionaires and ten million paupers. Those who had collaborated with the colonial police were now in all the high posts and had taken the best land and opportunities. ...If you were connected, through family or communal allegiances, even penniless you were protected and favoured.' Corruption, blackmail, extortion and intimidation become rampant in order to `buy' cheaply the businesses of `strangers. Vikram Lall becomes a civil servant overseeing big business contracts ... This book is also a hymn on green Africa with the all importance of rain and a reminder of India's caste (marriage) and religious problems: `Her soul has flown away, it's only the empty body. She'll come back in a new body. I rather preferred the old body. How would I recognize the new one?' Vassanji's chronicle is an impressive achievement, but not a `feast' of a book; instead Vikram Lall's world is one of racism, fanaticism, brutal power struggle and blatant corruption. Not to be missed.
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Vikram Lall, the narrator of this engrossing story, looks back over the last fifty years of his life. From the safety of his self-imposed exile in Canada, he takes the reader through a selection of pertinent years. The choices are years that were pivotal in his personal life and intimately linked in the historical development of his home country of Kenya. The passage of time allows him to describe the people and events in a dispassionate voice which affects the reader deeply. While not openly self-critical, he paints an honest and detailed portrait of himself. Addressing the reader directly at the outset, he asks us to form our opinion on whether or not his reputation as "one of Africa's most corrupt men, a cheat of monstrous and reptilian cunning" is justified. The result is a multi-layered novel of extraordinary depth, rich with memorable characters, dramatic action and a high level of authenticity in its representation of the environment and the realities of the time. Intimately familiar with cultural context - being from the same ethnic Indian-Kenyan background as his principal characters - as well as the political circumstances, Vassanji has created a panorama that seamlessly merges historical realities with his characters' private dramas in broad, yet precisely placed strokes. Kenya's struggle for independence from Britain, spearheaded by the Mau Mau movement, brought danger to all ethnic groups. Young Vikram and his sister Deepa, while protected by their caring family, are pulled into the drama when violence hits close to home. The family's store is the centre of their lives: well connected not only within the Asian community, but also with regular British customers. The African Kenyans living around the Asian estate are tolerated rather than respected. Loyalty to the monarchy overrides any concerns about the growing ethnic conflicts. Their grandfather, one of the many Indian labourers brought to East Africa to lay down the railway tracks, had settled in this beautiful and potentially prosperous country. Their father only returned once to the Punjab to find a bride; Vikram never visited the country of his forebears. The children's close circle of friends transcend the racial divisions with British siblings, Bill and Annie, as well as Njoroge, son of the estate's African gardener. Their idyllic life sees the five full of fun and games, emotional ties growing that will influence the rest of their lives. Innocence comes to a sudden end: accusations of murder hit the black neighbourhood. Tensions and suspicions are on the rise. Njoroge goes into hiding after his grandfather is arrested. Having drawn us into the intimacy of his characters' existence, Vassanji's depiction of the events that follow leaves a deep resonance with the reader. Mau Mau rebels, known for their violence against white Kenyans are pursued by British and Kenyan police with equal force. In the hunt for any potential rebels innocent Africans are caught in the net of police brutality. Vassanji brings out the conflict's different perspectives in a fairly neutral way, yet the emotional tensions are palpable under the calm surface of the narrative. With Independence in 1963, violence and conflict shifted but did not disappear as Kenyans of all ethnic backgrounds had to grapple with old and new challenges. Corruption and nepotism were integral part of the ruling elite which did little to disguise their machinations. While Vassanji's power brokers are fictional characters, some resemblance to the actual political scene is without doubt intended. The Asian Kenyan community has split loyalties: a growing number of them flee Kenya in response to the restrictions imposed on their economic activities and with acts of violence against them increasing. Others, like the Lall family, having always regarded Kenya as their home, take Kenyan nationality and congregate in Nairobi to adjust their life to the new realities. Conflicting emotions and loyalties are tested more than ever. Can Vikram's love for his rebellious uncle Mahesh survive the revelations of earlier acts of betrayal? Restrictive traditional mind-sets clash with the younger generation's ambitions and their determination to overcome racial and cultural differences and stereotypes. In Deepa, Vassanji exemplifies these tensions empathetically. She revolts against her family's and the community's poorly hidden racism, which remains pervasive in all ethnic groups sharing the country. Vikram and Njoroge are each entangled in the web of politics in their own way. Njoroge follows his vision and dreams. Vikram, on the other hand decides to take an easier route, going with the flow of the political system and not taking a stand. In the end, though, he becomes the victim of his inclinations and his hiding in Canada may not be a permanent solution to his circumstances. The author vividly conveys the complexities of that period through Vikram's musing on his actions at the time and his reaffirmation of his own identity and roots. Vikram's question in the prologue will not be easily answered, yet deserves consideration and reflection. Very few authors, if any, from Vassanji's background or any other, familiar with East African history over the last sixty years, have been able to tackle the fundamental issues of that time with such depth of comprehension and sensitivity for the human tragedies it entailed. Beyond its specific historical and cultural context, Vassanji's novel is one of the most gripping, beautifully rendered story of human strengths and failures, deep emotions, perseverance and resilience. [Friederike Knabe]
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The surprise at the end about who Vikram Lall is in reality is just something. Wow. This book is such a beautiful tapestry. It pulls in personal and national history in the most unexpected way. I feel moved. Vassanji's book is such an important piece of literature about Kenya. I do wish that he had given the New Man president no name. Calling him Patrick when he was obviously Moi was just jarring. But the book has definitely got me asking myself some questions about Kenyan history
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This story is from a quite different viewpoint than most stories about the journey of Kenya. The main protagonist is a Indian immigrant that were brought over as workers to the lay the rails of the infamous train that came up from Mombasa through the plains of Nairobi. It is a moralistic tale of the extent of corruption that existed in the country even after Independence. The slippery slope that had to be climbed to even exist in this country proves to be unattainable to reach the top and stay there safely. To think that this country was one where travelers went on Safari thinking they were safe, seems to be a naive viewpoint.
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This is a touching and absorbing book, providing insights into the history and culture of Indian folk living in colonial and post-colonial Africa. A good read.
Related Literary Awards
- Giller Prize Edition 10 (2003) ・Winner