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Racists
The year is 1855 and two of Europe’s pre-eminent scientists are about to begin an experiment with the aim of settling an argument that has raged for decades. With that unravels a fascinating tale, by an author whose real life seems amazingly far removed from the topics he writes about. By day, Basu delves into the world of strategic marketing, teaching the subject at Oxford University; by night, he is a writer who has earlier taken on some immensely fascinating journeys through The Miniaturist and The Opium Clerk. While his earlier novels have had some connection of sorts to his roots that lie in India, Racists takes you on a journey that you just wouldn’t expect. With its mix of science, history, romance and a seemingly preposterous experiment at work, the book is gripping from the word go. The key characters are English craniologist, Samuel Bates, and his French rival, Jean-Louis Belavoix, both really well fleshed out. The story unfolds through the two scientists’ six-monthly visits to the island to check on the progress of their subjects. Their reports are followed by the visit back home where the experiments are being followed avidly. You can almost feel all their quirks creeping under your skin through the portrayals of their sometimes absurd and sometimes ghastly mannerisms. There are several heated arguments between the two that often take the issue of race to a whole new level, lending it yet another dimension. One such exchange ends in this fashion: Belavoix shook his head. "How English, how typically English to pollute science with morals." He shrugged his shoulders in resignation. "What you choose to do with the inferior is your business, Mr Bates. Train them like monkeys or shoot them like dogs. But ability is the key. Yes, ability. The skill, the power, the cunning to kill, if necessary. That’s the meaning of racial superiority." "That may be your view, but it certainly isn’t mine." There was an air of finality in Bates’s voice. Beyond such dialogues, some of which actually border on the hilarious, the difficult and deeper questions of Racists emerge. You turn page after page, trying to figure out who will triumph or will love and loneliness engulf all on the island of Arlinda? In an effortless sweep through lands unknown, issues often left untouched, Basu’s immensely moving work, just like his earlier ones, takes you on a journey that is entertaining and fulfilling. Beyond that, it leaves you to work on some of your own answers to Racists and that is just another thing that makes this work noteworthy. |
HIS work could be dubbed a
study in black and white, as it flits effortlessly between Victorian
England and a beautiful island off the African coast. It is through this
journey that Kunal Basu’s third book, Racists, examines several
untold tales.