The student reactions to recent BathHouse events keep on coming! This review is from Kasandra David:
While waiting for Kapil’s reading of Humanimal to start, I wasn’t sure what to expect. As someone with a background in philosophy, I found the text rather frustrating because it pointedly avoided ‘primal questions’. Fundamental questions are my lifeblood. Problems of identity, the metaphysical status of personhood, moral consideration of animals and the social aspect of consciousness are all things I’ve scrutinized from a completely inorganic, analytic perspective. Though I found Humanimal beautiful I did not initially find it engaging. To me it was like a computer with its silicon guts torn out; interesting to look at but not particularly useful.
But I’m forced to admit hearing her read it gave me a different perspective on her work. Kapil’s voice gave the text so much flavor. Her accent coupled with a melodic rhythm turned Humanimal into a lulling chant. I felt completely absorbed by her narration.
Another interesting phenomenon was how I came to understand Humanimal better as a fictional-autobiography. It is often said, often cheekily, that all writing is autobiographical. While usually I find this witticism unhelpful, I had somehow not made the obvious connection between some events in the novel being reflections upon Kapil’s experiences as a British Indian. Actually seeing her and hearing her read the excerpt about being called a ‘Paki snake-eater’ gave Humanimal a depth I hadn’t recognized before. Maybe the surreal content and foreign setting made parts of Humanimal inaccessible to me. But putting a face to the words made connections; it provoked a kind of empathy in me that only good literature can.
It’s always helpful to hear a text because it pulls you out of your own paradigm. You’re forced to process the text another way, to reconcile the meaning you’ve superimposed onto it with the way it exists as sound. I think this is particularly true when the author of the text is the one doing the reading. They lend it something unique. I like to think they love their work in the way a parent loves a child – perhaps a little ignorantly, or blindly, but it’s genuine and valuable in its singularity. If Kapil’s rock-star finish is any indication, she felt as great about her reading as I did.