THE FINKLER QUESTION by HOWARD JACOBSON

'United Kingdom is full of anti-Semites.Attacks against the Jew are on the increase.'
     This is the impression you get if you read Howard Jacobson's The Finkler Question,the Man Booker Prize won fiction in 2010.When I started reading the novel,it had only been shortlisted for the award.I hoped to read it easily as usual,in two or three days until I understood that the novel lacks a developing plot in which each chapter or division narrates something new chronologically.But you read about Julian Treslove, a middle aged man first.He has two friends by name Samuel Finkler ,a Philosopher and Libor Sevick an octogenarian who was their teacher once.
     The novel has two parts.Both the parts contain almost flashes of their reminiscence.Zionism, Antisemitism,the Holocaust etc are the terms that you read quite often in the novel.
    Being confused about the anti-Semitic rages of the British found in the novel,I  tried to get it clarified.I asked one of my friends in London about it.He had not even heard of it before.Then I met a couple from Briton who are now with BBC I think,during my tour to Munnar recently.The man said it would be highly exaggerated to say that the British are so much anti-Semitic in their outlook.
    The novel,anyway,gives us an account of such attacks in several countries.One thing I can assure you:
The Finkler Question is witty and rich in language.Those who are fed up with the English translations will find it as a treasure with a lot of original and beautiful English expressions.That is why I read it twice or thrice.Its detailed critical review will be added in a few days(I hope).Given below are the photos taken by me in Munnar in Kerala.In the first one,you can see the British lady I mentioned above,with my students.

  (  I hope you will not dislike the pics below,though they have nothing to do with the book reviewed here.)

A JOURNAL FROM KERALA

 Simply,for your Information

Journal of Literature & Aesthetics is published from Kerala.When the issue in the picture above  was published Dr.K .Ayyappa Panikker was its Chief Advisory Editor.Prof.Susan Basnett ( UK ),Prof.Jonh Oliver Perry  (USA) and 3 others were its Advisory Editors.Its Chief Editor is Dr.S.Sreenivasan.

You get an idea of its content from the cover itself.As a half-yearly Journal ,it is still published from Kollam.The word still is emphasized because I know what happens when you try to publish a scholarly journal.The following are the cover of the first and second issues of a journal published by me.Unfortunately the third issue is expected to be the last unless some miracle like the extension of support by its readers happens.Updating one's professional knowledge is, probably ,'not Indian's cup of tea'.So long as we get salary with the meager knowledge that we have,every attitude remains the same.

A FEW WHILE-READING QUOTES

I would like to quote a few interesting sentences from the book that I am reading now.'Finklerish' thoughts,'Finklerish' queries,'Finklerish' answers.......

Here they are:

Many a time Libor stood behind his wife Malkie while she played  her piano.Marvelling at her expertise,at the smell of  aloes and frankinese(all the perfumes of Arabia) that rose from her hair,and at the beauty of her neck.

A neck more graceful, he had told her the day they had met,than a swan's.Because of his accent,Malkie had thought he had said her neck was more graceful than a svontz,which had reminded her of a Yiddish word her father often used,meaning penis.Could Libor really have meant that her neck was more graceful than a penis?

Another excerpt:

'You think there is no such thing(anti-Semitism)?What do you say to St Paul,itching with a Jewishness he couldn't scratch away until he'd turned half the world against it?'
'I say thank you,Paul, for widening the argument.'
'You call that widening? Strait is the gate,remember.'
'That's Jesus, not Paul.'
'That's Jesus as reported by Jews already systematically Paulised.He couldn't take us on in the flesh so he extolled the spirit.You're doing the same in your own way.You're ashamed of your Jewish flesh.Have ranchmones on yourself. Just because you're a Jew doesn't mean you're a monster.'
'I don't think I'm a monster.I don't even think  you're a monster.I'm ashamed of Jewish,no,Israyeli actions-'