July 5, 1999
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THE CRAFT OF THE
ESSAY Mind of the Mehta A sensitive writer and his old-fashioned stories told in an old-fashioned manner. By Nilanjana S Roy THE CRAFT OF THE ESSAY
Spanning from 1961 to 1993, the eight pieces here may set off echoes in the heads of dedicated New Yorker readers: they all appeared there first, testifying to Mehta's long connection with that venerable magazine. This is admittedly a downer for New Yorker regulars -- the thrill of rediscovery isn't half as exciting as the delight of stumbling across virgin Ved. He confesses in the introduction that what he'd really wanted was a selection that showcased the admittedly generous breadth of his writing -- autobiography, opinion, history, travel, political reportage -- but had to abandon it as too unwieldy. Instead, what you get is a nostalgic ramble across the decades, one that fittingly enough for this Anglicised author both begins and ends in Oxford. The first of these bookends is an abstruse but entertaining look at intellectual arguments; the last takes a scalpel to the demise, actual and metaphorical, of three of his contemporaries at Oxford in one of the most clear-eyed, moving pieces of prose ever written. In between, Mehta doggedly explores Calcutta, journalist's notebook in hand; maps both R.K. Narayan and fictional Malgudi; patiently unravels the life of a German cleric who died in a concentration camp; explores the Gandhian principle of celibacy; and brings an archaeologist's perspective to his own life, touching with equal candour on his father's odd benefactress, his blindness and his Anglophilia. Accompanying him on his peregrinations is a work ethic that will perhaps last longer than a style that the Internet generation might well dismiss as both dated and demanding. Mehta sees his chosen profession as a "lifelong apprenticeship"; he researches as conscientiously as a graduate student, offers up a final version that owes its polish and ease to myriad revisions. But to truly enjoy his work, it's important to understand that his (frequent) digressions are often as crucial as the ostensible destination. He demands patience, and certainly the first two pieces in this collection are guaranteed to tax the stamina of most readers. But in the end the rambles off the point, the tangents that lead down delightful but obscure bylanes, are usually worth it. The chronological arrangement lets us follow Mehta down the ages, as he grows from an erudite young man just a little too conscious of his own merit to an accomplished writer who can turn the searchlight on himself without flinching. "City of Dreadful Night", his 1970 essay on Calcutta, wears its years lightly; "Nonviolence" takes on an extremely sacred cow and an extremely taboo subject with elan and impeccable journalism, while "Naturalised Citizen No. 984-5165" lays bare the solemnity and the farce involved in renouncing one set of loyalties for another. It would have been useful to have had more recent samples of Mehta's work -- for instance, his 1998 essay on India's nuclear bomb, which said much of note, even if it didn't grab magazine covers in the country. But no reader, particularly not one that seeks to encapsulate the talents of someone as prolific as this, is required to be comprehensive. This offers you just enough of Ved Mehta -- a medley of afternoon tea, personal confession and legworking journalism -- to whet your appetite for more. Provided, of course, that you like that sort of thing. » Men and Memories » The
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In an age dominated by flavour
of-the-month fiction, it's a pleasant surprise to come across something as ruthlessly
devoid of froth, frills and furbelows as this collection. The Craft of the Essay: A Ved
Mehta Reader is, depending on the point of view, an introduction to one of the world's
most punctilious non-fiction writers or an opportunity to renew acquaintance with this
donnish emigre. 
