Geoff Dyer looks for inner self in two cultures

JAIPUR - Cultures, philosophies, travel, art and people merge in Geoff Dyer’s books as he chronicles a human saga that moves from Italy to India.

Hailed as one of the best novelists of the decade, Dyer in his latest book, “Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi”, has threaded two cities with common legacies in art and culture in a Thomas Mann-like creation that documents a journalist’s brush with hedonism, romance, spirituality and philosophy.

“‘Jeff in Venice…’ began at the Venice Biennale in 2008 where my wife was the world arts editor. It was unbelievably hot - and I was just finishing my book on photography, ‘Bystanders: The History of Street Photography’, and thought it would be a nice idea to do a Thomas Mann’s ‘Death in Venice’ and explore a romance in the time of hedonism and the wild partying that was going around us.

“I wanted the romance to blossom. And then we went to Varanasi and I realised that I wanted the part in Venice to be complemented by a part in Varanasi for obvious reasons - to explore some of the Thomas Mann bit,” Dyer told IANS in an interview at the recently-concluded Jaipur Literature Festival.

“Jeff in Venice…” which became a point of discussion at the festival, has already won the 2009 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize. It is the story of Jeff Atman, jaded but resolute journalist, who is a party animal when not filing a story. Jeff meets Laura at the Venice Biennale and their romance rejuvenates him. But the affair that flares is destined to end as Jeff leaves Venice.

Switch to Varanasi, where millions of pilgrims flock to the bank of the Ganges every day. Among them is a narrator, who is not Jeff but resembles him. The narrator, who intends to spend a few days in Varanasi, spends months as he searches his soul and looks for his inner self. He documents the pleasures that he has renounced in a previous life - and in the process binds the two ancient cities together.

“In the first part of the book, I explain what happens to the romance. In Varanasi, I do away with the girl and all those connections that the narrator forms in Venice are snapped. Yet, the two bond in an unusual way,” Dyer said, contouring the plot of the book and the link between Venice and Varanasi.

“Varanasi and Venice are similar because of the water,” Dyer said. But while he “was familiar with Venice, nothing had prepared him for Varanasi”.

“It was so concentrated and intense,” Dyer said.

Varanasi is loaded with sacred significance, said Dyer. “It is characterised by a certain amount of sacredness. Something is always going on - not just spirituality. You can’t just look at Varanasi as a sort of another add-on.”

Travel provides Dyer fodder for his books.

“I went to New Orleans and New York to research for ‘But Beautiful’, my book on jazz. Then I moved to Paris to collect material on the first world war for ‘Paris Trance’.

“I am also one of those people who try to bring philosophy and metaphysical speculation to my writing. I like to read and take a thought and extrapolate it - not stating the obvious. For example, in ‘Jeff in Venice…’, the cocaine, sex and the carnal romance become meaningless to the narrator when the love between the two are consummated. Varanasi becomes a symbol of the world departed,” the writer said.

Dyer likes reading Rebecca West, John Berger, Steve Coll and Lawrence Wright. “Reportage is gradually becoming a genre of literature because of the great movements taking place and the big subjects. Reportage as literary read was made popular by Richard Kapuskinschi, a Polish foreign correspondent,” Dyer said.

Dyer, who grew up in a working class Britsh family without any books, is working on a new novel.

(Madhusree Chatterjee can be contacted at madhu.c@ians.in)