Aubrey Menen
Encyclopedia
Aubrey Menen (22 April 1912 in London
– 13 February 1989 in Thiruvananthapuram
, Kerala
, Southern India
) was an English
writer
of Irish
and India
n parentage who was primarily a satirist. He was also a drama critic, theater director, advertising agency executive, and an alumnus of University College London
.
His essays and novels explore the nature of nationalism and the cultural contrast between his own Irish-Indian ancestry and his traditional British upbringing. The first sentence of "Dead Man in the Silver Market" offers an example of his good-humored approach to this contentious topic: "Men of all races have always sought for a convincing explanation of their own astonishing excellence and they have frequently found what they were looking for."
Menen's retelling of the classic Hindu epic the Ramayana (1954)is easily the funniest and most readable version of that delightful work, but devout Hindus were horrified by the liberties Menen took with a sacred text and got it banned in India for some years. Menen's humor did not undercut his obvious love for India, however, as can be seen in his book on Hindu mystics and his text to Rolof Beny's great book of photographs of India (1969).
A quote: "There are three things which are real: God, human folly, and laughter. Since the first two pass our comprehension, we must do what we can with the third."
Asked to give advice to writers, Mr. Menen, who was admired as a satirist, told the publication Contemporary Authors that the aspiring writer should perform a daily physical exercise: He should sit on his bottom in front of a table equipped with writing materials, he said. If his top end fails him, at least his nether end won't.
"The Prevalence of Witches" takes place in an uncivilized area of India which he calls "Limbo", possibly an homage to the work by Aldous Huxley whom he explicitly acknowledges in the book as one of the greatest writers of his time.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
– 13 February 1989 in Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram , formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland...
, Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, Southern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
of Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n parentage who was primarily a satirist. He was also a drama critic, theater director, advertising agency executive, and an alumnus of University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
.
His essays and novels explore the nature of nationalism and the cultural contrast between his own Irish-Indian ancestry and his traditional British upbringing. The first sentence of "Dead Man in the Silver Market" offers an example of his good-humored approach to this contentious topic: "Men of all races have always sought for a convincing explanation of their own astonishing excellence and they have frequently found what they were looking for."
Menen's retelling of the classic Hindu epic the Ramayana (1954)is easily the funniest and most readable version of that delightful work, but devout Hindus were horrified by the liberties Menen took with a sacred text and got it banned in India for some years. Menen's humor did not undercut his obvious love for India, however, as can be seen in his book on Hindu mystics and his text to Rolof Beny's great book of photographs of India (1969).
A quote: "There are three things which are real: God, human folly, and laughter. Since the first two pass our comprehension, we must do what we can with the third."
Asked to give advice to writers, Mr. Menen, who was admired as a satirist, told the publication Contemporary Authors that the aspiring writer should perform a daily physical exercise: He should sit on his bottom in front of a table equipped with writing materials, he said. If his top end fails him, at least his nether end won't.
"The Prevalence of Witches" takes place in an uncivilized area of India which he calls "Limbo", possibly an homage to the work by Aldous Huxley whom he explicitly acknowledges in the book as one of the greatest writers of his time.
Novels
- The Prevalence of Witches (1947)
- The Stumbling-Stone (1949)
- The Backward Bride: A Sicilian Scherzo (1950)
- The Duke of Gallodoro (1952)
- The RamayanaRamayanaThe Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
, As Told by Aubrey Menen (1954) - The Abode of Love: The Conception, Financing and Daily Routine of an English Harem in the Middle of the 19th Century (1956)
- The Fig Tree (1959)
- SheLa: A Satire (1962)
- A Conspiracy of Women (1965)
- Fonthill: A Comedy (1974)
Travel
- Rome Revealed (1960)
- Speaking the Language Like a Native (1962)
- India (1969)
- Upon This Rock (1972)
- London (1976)
- Venice (1976)
- Four Days of Naples (1979)
Other Non-Fiction
- Dead Man in the Silver Market (1953)
- The Space within the Heart (1970)
- Cities in the Sand (1972)
- The New Mystics and the True Indian Tradition (1974)
- Art and Money (1980)
External links
- NYT Obituary: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE1D81F30F937A15751C0A96F948260
- Time magazine review of "Man Without a Country" and information about Mr. Menen: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,818777,00.html?iid=chix-sphere
- Review of, "A Conspiracy of Women": http://myweb.unomaha.edu/~mreames/Beyond_Renault/menen.html