Episode 9.2: ‘The Centre’ by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
Our second episode of this season takes us to London, Karachi and New Dehli in Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi’s debut novel, ‘The Centre’.
This one leapt onto our radar as soon as that incredibly arresting cover was unveiled and we found out it was about a prestigious translation centre - it had to be a podcast book!
Welcome to The Centre. The cost may be high, but you'll never be the same . . .
Anisa Ellahi longs to become a translator of 'great works of literature', but right now she is stuck in her London flat writing subtitles for Bollywood films.
Then she is told about the Centre, an elite, invite-only programme that guarantees complete fluency in any language in just ten days. Seduced by all that it could make possible, Anisa enrols. But the Centre's services come at a disturbing hidden cost. Still - it's worth it, right? After all, success comes at a price . . .
By turns dark, funny and surreal, The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi takes the reader on a journey through Karachi, London and New Delhi. Throughout it interrogates the sticky politics of language, translation and appropriation and asks: what price would you be willing to pay for success?
‘The Centre’ is undoubtedly going to be an interesting and thought-provoking read, but how does it fit into dark academia?
In this episode we discuss:
The intersection of translation and colonialism
The potentially meta nature of a book within a book
Privilege, money, power and the intersections with living abroad
You can listen to it here:
TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘The Centre’ by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
‘Catherine House’ by Elisabeth Thomas
‘Nightbitch’ by Rachel Yoder
‘Normal Women’ by Ainslie Hogarth
‘Motherthing’ by Ainslie Hogarth
‘Blob’ by Maggie Su
Sayaka Murata (author of ‘Convenience Store Woman’ and ‘Earthlings’)
‘Unwind’ by Neal Shusterman
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