– Thomas Szasz in The Second Sin “Sex” (1973)
Sex features as one of the recurring themes in Nepali English fiction – I mean fiction written by Nepali writers in English – of this decade. But its representation, description, and portrayal appear more crude than aesthetic, more mechanical than communicative, and more direct than metaphorical. [break] In this essay, I wish to examine the treatment of sex in fiction penned by two celebrated Nepali writers writing in English: Manjushree Thapa and Samrat Upadhyay.
Readers of Manjushree Thapa’s Tutor of History and Forget Kathmandu must find her Tilled Earth alarming for the portrayal of sex in it. Of course, there is love in Tutor of History but it does not necessarily find its fulfillment in sex. There is no sudden leap from non-sex into Tilled Earth. It finds a sporadic occurrence here. In the entire collection, only one story “The European Fling” interacts with lovemaking scene. Sharada is a Nepali student in America who has had relation with one Matt. Sex is not something to be responded with urgency in this affair. During a sojourn in a hotel, Sharada lays on bed warming to the idea of sex. Matt asks, “Is it all right if we don’t make love?” “Yes, of course,” she says.
He suggests her playing with herself; “That’s the best way to make sure you actually come.” (161). But with Gyatso, another American character five or six years younger than her, she just cannot resist the temptation. Description is direct and stunning. “Gyatso’s hands slid down her spine sending a shiver of pleasure through all of her . . .He pulled up her sweater, felt her waist, ribs, breasts. Off went her panties. She gasped as he entered.” (174-75).
Moralists who object to this depiction will hardly endure reading Seasons of Flight. The book chronicles a journey of a Nepali woman called Prema, who wins a DV lottery, from sexual inhibitions in Nepal to her sexual liberty in America. While in Nepal she has secret assignations with Rajan. But it is devoid of any emotional attachment. When she reaches America, her sexual thought, pattern, behavior, and notions change. She has a number of sexual encounters with Americans. With one Luis, the affair lasts a little longer but with him, relation is more sexual than emotional. Perhaps no Nepali littérateur has depicted lovemaking scenes in as bold, explicit and direct a manner as in this novel. Prema practices with Luis what she has seen in the internet or in porn movies.
“She tasted him where he was tender and ran her tongue along his vein taking him in.” (77) There is a great deal of crooning. “Oh, god. Oh, god. Oh, God,” Luis moans. “Please, Please,” she demands. Such an encounter not only makes her feel fulfilled but also invents life in her. “She had never in her life walked about naked... she had never played physically the way she did with him. Her whole being fizzled with satisfaction. He allowed her to learn about him, to put her lips there, to kiss, to lick, to feel him, to rub, to suck. To slide a hand there, feel, slip a finger in. To pull, to push, to hold, to release . . .to moan to squeal to scream”(80). Three years of her life in America almost turns her into a whore who offers her body for free. Sex becomes her obsession. In a mere acquaintance with an NGO consultant, a Peruvian, while she is in Nepal, she yields to him. Prema is a modern Nepali Madam Bovary whose life does not have to meet an end simply for her sexual wantons.
Samrat Upadhayay is notorious for bringing in sex in his fiction. His characters in Arresting God in Kathmandu are driven by sexual desires, notwithstanding the other difficulties of life. Pramod of “The Good Shopkeeper,” a jobless boy, ends up having sex with a peanut selling woman. Sex with her is not purposeful.
“He was not the one lifting her sari, fumbling with her petticoat, he was not the one doing the penetrating. She just lay beneath him, matching his moves only as the act demanded.” (13). It looks like Bandana-ji of “Deepak Mishra’s Secretary” has only one dream of her life: to have sex with Deepak. Sexual description of this episode is more spectacular and arousing. “They kissed, and his hands roamed her body. He unbuttoned her blouse, pushed up her bra, and began to suck her breasts. She helped him undress. His penis firm and standing like the tower of Dharahara” (48).
The fate of the protagonist of The Guru of Love is controlled by the same libido. Ramchandra, a math teacher, has affair with Malati, an SLC tutee past her teens, who already has a child from her former flame. His sexual encounter with Malati is often crude. He has sex with her in his flat, in her rented room, and also in the woods by Pashupatinath Temple.
Modern readers might scoff at this commentary. So what?, they may say. There is some sex in almost every masterpiece of modern times. Indeed, sex serves a variety of functions in literature. It attracts the attention of the readers or offers them diversion from the monotony of reading. It keeps the readers engaged throughout the novel. Also there is some commercial motive involved. Sex sells.
Without some love scenes, books do not sell well. True claims they may be, but I do not believe sex is the only appetizer for the readers.
Sex in literature was not a welcome theme even in the part of the world we call modern today – Europe and America. Mere allusion to sexual intercourse has got bestsellers into courts of law. Gustave Flaubert’s “Madam Bovary”, a story of adulterous affairs of a woman where lovemaking scene is only suggested, was attacked for obscenity by public prosecutors in 1856. And until 1960, D.H. Lawrence’s notorious “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” and its explicit description of sexual relationship between a working class man and an aristocratic woman, was banned. Nepali fiction writers are fortunate that in the country that is more traditional, more conservative, and more critical and moralist in terms of sex, their books have been enjoyed and read.
There is clearly a great deal to understand from the acceptance of these fiction into Nepali readers’ community: Nepali society is ready to talk about social taboos, including sex, through books, literature, and newspapers. It also shows that society’s attitude towards sex is changing. Despite this, instead of pandering to the pornographic impulse of readers, Nepali writers in English could still add some aesthetic overtones to their sexual representation. It will not only save them from the criticism of moralists but also keep the readers from having to perceive their creations as pulp fiction.
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