I welcome on the blog today to share his thoughts about the concept and thought process about his book and title. As one of the first things that catches the eye of a reader the title is crucial. #MultitudesOfRipples is a first person narrative of an entrepreneur who struggles to make sense of his life. He reconstructs his memory while recuperating from a nervous breakdown. The distortion in his narrative is not only the manifestation of psychopathology of his mind but also an exploration of human values.
The author, Vaachakmitra is a research scientist by training. He is a technical consultant who works in an advisory capacity to the pharmaceutical industry and he specializes in intellectual property, technology up gradation and information technology.
The novel demonstrates how optimism incorporates meaningful semantics even in the face of psychopathology. The dualism of hope and pathos creates a touch of absurd.
I welcome Vaachmitra to Eloquent Articulation as he explores the many layers of his book & its title.
Why this title of the book – Multitudes Of Ripples?
This is one of the questions most often asked of me. There have also been queries about the use of a plural collective noun in “MULTITUDES”.
I have discussed these questions on my blogs (vaachakmitra.com). I take this opportunity to reiterate my views on the title. Some of these observations are unpublished. Therefore, I would like to thank you for making me reflect on my own creativity.
To be frank, when I began writing this novel, I had some urge to explore my own self-awareness. Therefore, there was no definite plot or a title of this novel. My reasoning was simple. If I were to choose a plot or title beforehand, then it would influence my mind subconsciously. Instead, I wanted to follow my creativity as it unfolded.
The title did not suggest itself till I had reached the library episode. While writing that episode, it occurred to me that the book that Manas discovers is a metaphor. At that point, I was forced to name that book. Therefore I thought that I could use the same title for the novel as well.
The self-reference of that fictional book and the novel is like a ripple passing from the character of the novel to the author himself and thence to the reader. What I did not realise while writing that library episode was that thanks to my subconscious creativity, I had stumbled upon the central theme of this novel. While reality is absolute, it’s perception is not. Each one of us perceives the reality in the context of our subconscious compulsions.
In case of Manas, he experiences his past in fragments. These fragments, when colliding with one another, create ripples in his memories. Therefore he sees himself in various avatars. Without any deliberate planning, I had created a novel using magical realism. The ripples are the protagonist’s fragmented memories. Since the protagonist is not a real person, he is each one of us. Therefore each one of us have subconsciously experienced these distortions of our past. To represent this universality, I have used the plural collective noun as in “MULTITUDES”.
To represent this universality, I have used the plural collective noun as in “MULTITUDES”.
Thank you for this insight, Vaachakmitra. We hope to read many more insightful books from you.
Comments
Good to know more about the author, Inderpreet. I am new to this, but find how useful it is to the authors out there. Kudos to you 🙂