Dear Frederick, When I joined St. Xavier's College in Bombay in 1941, I found a bright group there that included John Correia Afonso and others with whom I shared a common interest in literature and writing. Several of us got together and founded the ChesterBelloc club, named after G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, the two leading Catholic writers and luminaries of the time. We met regularly in a small room, and Fr. Esteller, who succeeded Fr. Fell as editor of the College Magazine, became our mentor. A couple of years later Fr. Eddie D'Cruz took over the mentoring. He came into one session beaming with pleasure and said, "All of you think you are good writers and you are, but Violet Dias is going to join the college next month and then you will see." Looking back sixty years, I think Violet joined St. Xavier's in the Inter Arts when I had already moved into the Junior B. A., and Fr. Eddie was right---she did write well. She was also intelligent as well as pretty, and after graduation she and her older sister settled in Bombay. But I was not aware that she was going anywhere with her writing until a few years ago, in the United States, Peter Nazareth spoke glowingly to me about her novel, Pears from the Willow Tree. When I read the novel I found it to be preachy and amateurish, but Peter has been steadfast in championing it and promoting it at every available opportunity. Peter is a widely read man and a professor at Iowa University, so I must respect his opinion and urge others to read her novel with an open mind Regards to all, Victor
________________________________ From: Frederick Noronha <[email protected]> To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" <[email protected]> Sent: Sun, September 5, 2010 2:38:02 PM Subject: [Goanet] Violet Dias-Lannoy... Just curious... has anyone read the works of Violet Dias Lannoy (1925-1973)? Did anyone know her? This is what the blurb of her 'Pears from the Willow Tree' (ISBN 0-89410-564-7 or 565-5), still available on amazon.com says: "Seb, the protagonist, is a member of an Indian 'lost generation' -- between cultures, religions, and epochs. As a teacher at a Gandhian-inspired school, he struggles alongside his countrymen against corruption of the soul to take and remake post-Imperial India...." More about her here: http://www.new-diaspora.com/Asian Diaspora/web_files/violet.html FN Frederick Noronha +91-9822122436 +91-832-2409490
