She was delivering the inaugural address at the 2nd international conference of Children’s Literature Association of India, hosted by the English Department in St Aloysius College in the City on Thursday, under the them “Politics and Polemics”.
Ms Agarwal said despite all the linguistic and cultural differences in India, stories had already bound Indians in this enduring web that had spun its way through the whole country over centuries. To keep this web in prime condition, in the early days, retold stories dominated children’s books, she noted.
Recalling her thoughts as what kind of stories should be told to children, she said she found out from her experiences that there was no last word about what was acceptable in a children’s story. It was the individual editor or publisher’s decision that ruled, she added.
The debate
Ms Agarwal said the very nature of childhood-as a stage of life that requires nurture, guidance and protection-means that stories written for children require some kind of governance or control.
Didacticism vs. entertainment, idealism vs. realism, popular vs. literary-how much and how little of each should a story contain, are some of the debates that have been raging ever since the children books began to be published, she explained.
From subject matter, characterisation and situation to illustrations- almost everything written for children is put under the microscope and tested for its ‘political’ correctness, she said.
Political influence
Ms Agarwal was also of the view that national politics, which does have an impact on the kind of books that were written and published, and the politics of tradition, culture, race and religion.
The fact that India is a developing country has definitely had an impact on our children’s literature. The very fact that so many authors write in English, is definitely the result of a political situation, she stressed.
“We cannot but be influenced by our ‘inner’ politics-which is the outcome of our own upbringing and childhood conditioning, she observed.
As writers, our own particular brand  of politics finds expression in the themes we select, consciously or unconsciously, and the stories that grow from them. Because writing fiction is an act of faith,” she pointed out.
St Aloysius Institutions Rector Fr Francis Serrao presided. Writers Jean Webb, Rachel Johnson, College Principal Fr Swebert D’Silva, conference convener Prof A Lourdusamy were present.