New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS) Life and books often come close to each other in the world of fiction as with ace publisher and author David Davidar. His new book, ‘Ithaca’, is a tale from his turf – the world of publishing that the writer says he knows well enough to craft a work of fiction.
‘This is a very basic dictum about novel writing – you write what you know about what you know. But the moment a novel becomes autobiographical, it limits your scope as a novelist. What I try to do is to create a parallel universe using the stuff I know as a springboard,’ Davidar told IANS in an interview here.
‘Ithaca’ is the story of publisher Zachariah Thomas and his bestselling author Massimo Seppi, who does not live to revel in the success of his novels that sell in millions. A racy drama, the novel trails Zach as he trots the globe to mine Seppi’s last manuscript from the depths of the unknown after the writer’s death to bail out his publishing company, Litmus, from an impending crash.
The similarities are uncanny.
‘In ‘Ithaca’, the functional character works abroad. I have worked in India and Canada. The bestselling novelist that (my protagonist) Zach publishes, I have not published. But I have published Stieg Larsson (the thriller sensation)…,’ said Davidar, the founder of Aleph Book Company, a new publishing firm in the capital.
The former CEO of Penguin International is partnering Rupa & Co for the venture.
‘Every publisher looks for that goldmine which they are not aware of often times. If you publish John Grisham or J.K. Rowling or Khushwant Singh, they are already big names. And you know their next books will sell in the market. But then, you have to find the next Rowling, the next Khushwant Singh and the next Arundhati Roy…,’ Davidar said.
Stories about bestsellers abound in Davidar’s life.
‘One of my editors bought the Stieg Larsson book in Frankfurt. At that point, he hadn’t got to be this big and suddenly he became huge,’ Davidar said.
But in the Indian context, he likes to cite Vikram Seth as an example. The book by Seth that Davidar published first was a volume of poems ‘which sold decently’.
‘And his next book was ‘The Suitable Boy’. When we published Abdul Kalam, there were many other president’s books but Kalam’s book was a number one bestseller. I published Suketu Mehta’s ‘Maximum City’ on the basis of a magazine article he wrote for the Granta. He took a long time to write it. But when he actually delivered the manuscript it was in my opinion one of the top three non-fiction books written in this country,’ Davidar said.
‘And then I just thought to myself, time has come for me to write a novel,’ Davidar said.
Davidar is the author of ‘The House of Blue Mangoes’ and ‘The Solitude of Emperors’. ‘Ithaca’ (published by HarperCollins-India) took him six months to write.
The world of publishing was often mysterious for people on the outside, the writer said. ‘I thought it was a good setting for a novel…’ he recalled.
‘The journalism bit in ‘The Solitude of Emperors’ does not exactly parallel my life..I did not witness the things in the novel,’ 53-year-old Davidar, who began his career as a journalist in the 1970s, said.
Likewise, the ”House of Blue Mangoes’ was based on certain events’ in Davidar’s family life.
‘For me it was a way of digging roots…,’ Davidar said.
Davidar foresees significant changes in the world of publishing and English reading in future.
The publishing boom in India can be put to the simple reason that India is not a mature market compared to other English speaking markets, he said.
‘The English speaking market is one of the many publishing markets in India…it has a lot of scope to develop with more and more people using English as their first language. Retail is growing and there is more middle class affluence. And we are finally coming to grips with our own literature and culture, the agenda was no longer being set by people outside,’ he said.
Davidar’s publishing company will go into operation in April 2012.
‘The first list will be announced in December,’ he said.
‘Ithaca’ was formally released Wednesday.
(Madhusree Chatterjee can be contacted at madhu.c@ians.in)
