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BOOK REVIEW Alice Boner culture. However, .... ........ ~._., ' Alice Boner's infinite On Kathakali fascination fortheart (ed.) G.Boner,L.Soni,J.Soni form is evident throughout the book, AliceBoner Foundation, and her vivid account (s'": '~;::i'-J' ", Varanasi, 1996 of actual . ~ *';:~+ 80 pages; As 120 performances rha: AUCEBO~tR happened more than ON KATIlAKAU sixty years ago makes What are the onentalist motivations when a absorbing reading. Westerner in the early 1930s looks at Indian Among the eight articles writtenfrom1~30 theatre?Howdida sensitivean historian from to 1934reproducedinthebook,sixarebyAfice Zurichreacttotherelativelylittleknown(tome Boner herself, and the other two(including~e outside world, at that point of time) theatric foreword) by her sisterGeorgene Boner.Alice formofKathakali in KeraJaata timewhen an Boner's somewhat impressionistic first~} educated Indian (trained in the discipline of portrays Keralaasan Arcadian (asshecallsn) Western medicine) dismissed it as a "silly, stretchofland,like afai~-talebook.H:ev~r, primitive,pre-Shakespearean" kindofplay?In the recently brought our bookAlice Boner on more captivating to her IS the Kathak .p~ Kathakali one can look for answers to these itself, and what follows page after pageIS questions. It is a collection of essays, letters, apprec.tau.on for Ihe art-IfIorm and b~ diary extracts written between 1930 and 1935 Painstaking efforts to understand it S,he graphically describes her first encounterWith by Alice Boner, the outstanding scholar of Indianart. Kathakali and gives a scene-by-scene ~ of the performance. In the next artl.c.Ie.nd~ Alice Boner's essays articulate her fascination anddeep appreciationfor ahitherto 'Experience W.Ith KathakaIu", she IS mort unexplored performing art. rich in dramatic familiar with the m. tn.cacr.es of the art-form potenrialandepicgrandeur.Sherecognizesthe having been initiated into the Iwenty-fourrUOI inherent worthof thean-form and its classical mudras, and the structure 0f wo.rds' natrJd greatness, "which has not only the highest sentences. There is a delightful descnptJo d artisticqualifications,butwhichhas auniversal her meeting with the poet VallathOISanl"t cosmic background" (p. 24). Her need to Mukunda Raja at Kerala Kalaman~~'hi~ discover themysterious energy inherent in this marvelsatthe techniqueofKathakali, Ya.-0' nUIDIJ(:J , performingartisevidentinthefirstsentenceof "each actor has a command over a before G.Boner'sforewordtothebook:"Howdidthe roles and the artists whohavenevermet _~~ Swissartist Alice Boner happen10discover the can immediately act together.. ( p. 45).._"_-1 Kathakali drama in Kerala in the South on her ascribes it to the expen.ence of .st\Ctti3,lIl firsttrip through India?"These lines,reflecting generations. However, .In her observa.l:lofnor Ut atypicalSaidianindigenism,expressadeep-felt KathakalioffersonlylimitedoPportU~ltYdi .d,d wonder and an urge 10 articulate the 'other' actor's "individual expen.ence a.nd InthcVbaISiC awareness"(p.46),sheperhapsmrsses Sang",/liatakNo. 124April- June 1997 BOOKREVIEW 47 pointofthe actor's freedom in manykey roles actorsseemtobemorerecent andsituationstocreativelyinterpretcharacter. The book is important to the modem There are several descriptions of episodes researcher as a faithful record of the lraining fromKathakaliplays.Amongthese,the account schedules, performancepractices andeven the of Krishnan's (no doubt (he great costume patterns (as is evident from the Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair. who later illustrations) of Kathakali as it was enacted dominated the Kathakali stage for several morethansixtyyearsago.AliceBoner'scandid decades)depiction of Putana is evocative, and observation inher letter to Michael andXenia [hatofKunjun (Kunchu'i) Kurup asthe hunter Santch, that "this will still exist so long asit in Nalacharitam is magnificent. Another remainsuntouchedbythewesternor,infact,the perhaps no less important contribution is modemcivilisation.anditisthereforecertainly GeorgetteBoner's article, 'Theatrical Tradition good that it lives in this remote comer of the andElements of Style'. in which she provides world" ( p. 61) is perhaps the most striking thetheoretical framework to (he art-form. The sentence inthe book. Kalhakali has had much sketches by Alice Boner depict the mood of attention and even overexposuretothe outside particular situations, for example. the scene world inrecenttimes,andatleastsomeofithas fromMahiibhiirata (p.25)orthatofPutana(p, not been advantageous to the art; it is in this 54). The illustrations of hand-gestures and context that Alice Boner's prophetic SCenesfromKathaknliareinteresting;however. observationquotedaboveseems valid. thephotographsofndl'QraSasby threedifferent SL'DHAGOPALAKRISHSAS