The Author's Stamp

As a child I loved all kinds of stories and read voraciously. Starting with adventures, fairy tales, detective novels, popular science, all the way to newspapers, magazines and even encyclopaedias – words printed on a page attracted me like magnet. The fresh smell of a new book never failed to cheer me.

Then one day something happened. My father's friend who was paying us a visit started talking with me. “So do you have a hobby?” he asked. I did not need to think. “I read books, I love books.” I said. “That's wonderful. I like to read too. So who is your favourite author?” he asked.

His question befuddled me. Up to this point - I was ten or eleven - I had chosen books based on the colours of the cover, the name of the book, the pictures inside and of course the promise of the story. I had never paid attention to who wrote them!

But being a proud bibliophile I could not let this one pass. Scouring my brain for an author, I remembered Mohammed Nasir Ali, a prolific writer, whose name I had noticed in passing on some of my book covers. This seemed to pass muster.

“Oh yes, he is good. But you could also read...” Our guest reeled off several other authors I had never heard of.

You can guess what happened next. A new phase of my reading career started. I started paying attention to the author. Once I enjoyed a book, I sought out others by the same author. And vice versa: once a book bored me, I avoided others by the same author.

I had discovered the author's stamp – how a writer embeds her or his own style and story-telling into the book. I had also discovered a better, more efficient way to get to good books.

Today's world of books revolves around famous authors with devoted and loyal readership. This is particularly true for fiction and poetry. In non-fiction, because of the dependence on expertise on a subject, it is easier to find unknown authors among the bestsellers.

Was author's brand-recognition as important in ancient times? We don't know the authors of classics such as Beowulf , The Arabian Nights, and the oral stories of many cultures, including American-Indians. As a child I loved listening to kissas that my great-grandmother spun late into the night for her brood. So in many cases, stories were stories and told and re-told for enjoyment. Not many knew or cared who the author was.

My sense is that the author's stamp became ubiquitous during the European Renaissance which emphasized the importance of the individual, particularly the individual artist. Capitalism then dictated the author own the copyright of the story and profit from it.

Today's famous writers concentrate on creating work in the same style – action stories, spy stories and detective/suspense stories come to mind – often because their readership expects it. However, there are exceptions: authors who deliberately break their own mould to produce a variety of work.

Our own Syed Mujtaba Ali traversed between several different genres of literature with effortless grace. American author Annie Dillard has written poems, novels, non-fiction narratives and memoir, some of them considered classics.

Reading books written in a predictable style can bring comfortable enjoyment to the reader, but tasting the offerings of an adventurous writer, while not always comfortable, surely comes with its own rewards.

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