Between the Lines

Germaine Greer (left) with Vikram Seth. (Express Photo by: Dilip Kagda)

The official topic of the session was “Can Books Change the World?”, but the conversation between Germaine Greer and Vikram Seth at the opening ceremony of the Tata Literature Live! Festival veered into topics such as freedom of speech and legalised abortion. Both writers declared the topic to be ponderous, with Greer saying that one can’t talk of books changing the world because, “books are a part of the world.” She added, “They’re part of the process of change. Books are made by the readers. A book lying in a cupboard is of no use.” She described her most iconic work – The Female Eunuch – as being badly written, called it her “worst” and said that the only reason it did so well is because it came at a certain moment in the history of feminism, and hence had a large number of readers, unlike The Whole Woman, which she described as being a much better book. According to Seth, too, its the readers who give books their important place, saying that a play or a piece of music exists because it is performed and is experience and the same is true of books as well.

Greer brought up the astonishing power of publishers in this matter, talking about the elaborate process of vetting that a book has to go through before it is published. She also spoke about awards having a similar power and pointed to the Nobel Prize in particular as being awarded to writers who fulfill its particular political agenda.

The question of freedom of speech arose too, with Greer declaring that we’ve all been under the mistaken assumption that it existed. “We should have been talking about this all along,” she said, and pointed to the existence of libel laws as an infringement on this right. “In a libel suit, the truth is not a defence. Only money can count in a libel suit and unfortunately, most people don’t have that kind of money,” she said. Greer also spoke up about abortion and said that legalising it may not quite be the victory that most feminists make it out to be. She said, “It has been a victory, but it’s a Pyrrhic victory. Medical abortion is still an invasive process and it comes with the burden of grief and, often, guilt.” According to her, the right to abort is offset by the circumstances under which women feel compelled to undergo the procedure. She raised concerns about whether or not the decision to abort is made independently.