Indian Authors of English
Ashu . Tiwary
Cracking India, by Bapsi Sidhwa (1991: Milkweed Editions)
Train To Pakistan, by Kushwant Singh (1961: Grove Press)
Samskara, UR Anantha Murthy, tr by A K Ramanujan, (1978: Oxford)
Coolie, Mulk Raj Anand (1936, 1981: Arnold Heinemann)
The Serpent and The Rope, Raja Rao (1960: John Murray)
Chemmeen, P S Pillai, tr by N Menon (1964: Jaico Press)
Gitanjali, Tagore, tr by himself (1913: Macmillan)
By the way, refering to R K Narayan; I had the opportunity to
take a class at UT Austin where he was a visiting prof for one
semester. Although the class title was "Indian Authors of English", we
only discussed his works (probably because that's all we had time
for). In an interesting note, he seemed very vehement in his disavowal
of any credit for the film version of "The Guide" - he said the ending had
been bastardized without his input. I agree with him on his point, the
book's ending was much more powerful.
There's another book I only remember the title of: Nectar in the Sieve.
It was an excellent book, but I don't remember the author or publisher.
-Ashu
sriram
>Here are a few more books:
>
>
>There's another book I only remember the title of: Nectar in the Sieve.
>It was an excellent book, but I don't remember the author or publisher.
>
>-Ashu
>
"Nectar in the Sieve" was by Kamala Markandeya. I did see her name in the
list of authors posted. I don't know the publisher of the book either.
Her other novel "Two Virgins"(title?) created quite an uproar in
Madras, India, when Univ of Madras included it in the reading list for
their B.A. literature curriculum. The book was considered too explicit!!
Sriram
Satyen G Baindur
>
>
>It was an excellent book, but I don't remember the author or publisher.
>
The author is Kamala Markandeya, and Jaico books published at least
one of the paperback editions.
--Satyen
--
"History is not high mystery for high priestly historians"
John Charmley, Lecturer in History,
University of East Anglia at Norwich
Priti Shah
Indian living in Britain.
Another author not included is Bapsi Sidwa, who has written several
novels including the Pakistani Bride and Crow-Eaters (she's Pakistani;
close enough, right?). And, she's an excellent writer!
Priti
Sarah Dufresne
Haven't seen this one in this thread:
The Inscrutable Americans-- a novel by Anurag Mathur
1991 Rupa Co. paperback
"Anurag Mathur was born in New Delhi and educated...
St. Stephen's College (Delhi) and the University of
Tulsa (Oklahoma)...lived for 3 years in the US before
returning home to India..."
S.
Balu Nadig
Raja Rao - who wrote the brilliant (IMO) book 'Serpent and the Rope',
Sasti Brata - this Britain based author who wrote in a crisp, breezy style.
Can anyone please list prof. Ramanujam's books...
Balu Nadig
Sanjeev Setia
More Indian authors writing in English:
1) G. V. Desani - "All about H. Hatterr" . This is one of the funniest
books I have ever read (and also one of the strangest). This book came
out sometime in the 1930s and made quite a splash. A new edition was
released a couple of years back and was reviewed in the Washington Post.
The book is about the adventures of an Indian-Anglo-Malay (H. Hatterr)
who has taught himself English
and Latin from a dictionary, and is narrated in the first person in the
resulting dialect. It takes some getting used to. The nearest thing I can
think of is Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange". (in fact, my edition
of the book also has an essay on the book by Burgess)
2) Rohinton Mistry: Such a long strange trip. This came out a couple of
years back and won some literary prize in Canada.
Devakumar Sreevijayan
>I don't know if these Indian Authors of English got a mention :
>
>Raja Rao - who wrote the brilliant (IMO) book 'Serpent and the Rope',
In rec.arts.books I responded to Sanjiva Prasad as below, when he pointed out
that Raja Rao could not have been born in 1937, which is what the original
list said.
>Sanjiva Prasad wrote:
>This old master, based at UT Austin, is definitely older than 56!
>Probably a good 20-30 years older than that.
>
The old master was born in 1907, I think. He is
about 85 now and quite cogent, though frail. His first novel, 'Kanthapura',
was published in 1929, inspired by Gandhism. His latest novel is titled
'The Chessmaster and His Moves'.
He lives in a red sandstone house close by the campus.
The lawn is unkempt and the street very quiet and narrow. On the door a yellow
note was stuck. It simply said: "Raja Rao". He was expecting us. He answered
the door himself, stooped and wrapped up in a dressing gown. He waved us into
some chairs and apologized for making us sit in almost total darkness.
"The light hurts my eyes", he said smiling. Upstairs, I heard someone walking
about, the wooden floor amplifying the sound. "My wife Susan", he explained,
"she is not feeling too well".
We didnt talk much about books. In fact, he did most of the
talking, and he talked clearly and passionately, late into the evening. About
Gandhi, Nehru, De Gaulle, Churchill, Malraux, Diego Rivera, and a whole
galaxy of others. People whom he had met and known; legendary figures like
Subhash Bose, whom he had shown around Paris while at the Sorbonne. He
argued with feeling about the relevance of Gandhism, and with more than a
hint of seriousness, about why monarchy was necessary in India; about how
the Brahmins had betrayed the soul of India, and about how he had disavowed
his own Brahminical heritage: casting the sacred thread of the twice-born
into the Ganges at Benares.
Later, as we sat in the darkness of his living room, the
shelves and the chairs overflowing with books, he talked about his spiritual
quest: about the Buddha, Ramana Maharishi, Krishnamurti, and about his guru:
Atmananda, a policeman turned Vedantin, in Travancore. His last novel had
borne a quote from Atmananda: "I am the light in the perception of the world".
We accepted his invitation to visit again, as he showed us
to the door. Next time, we will talk about Mathematics, we said, and the
Novel, and Nagarjuna, and the decline of the erotic in Indian culture.
Dev
Preeti Anissa Gholap
>
>2) Rohinton Mistry: Such a long strange trip. This came out a couple of
I think you meant "Such A Long Journey" by Rohinton Mistry.
Preeti
Balaji
>2) Rohinton Mistry: Such a long strange trip. This came out a couple of
You're confusing Mistry with Jerry Garcia. Mistry's book is called Such
a Long Journey.
Balaji
rakesh.r.patel
Did anyone mention Kipling and Orwell?
Rakesh Patel
sriram
I am posting this for Chris Moseley who cannot post to the
net. I donot have the list of Indian authors that was posted on
ACUA-I. Could someone who does have the list email it to him?
thanks,
sriram
Hi
I was auditing the ACUA-I net and caught the tail end of a thread regarding
Indian authors writing in English. Do you know where I can find the list of
authors people are referring to?
I cannot *post* from my location so I am sending this email to anyone who
might know. In my spare time (what little there is) I am reading Narayan's
_The Guide_ and am enjoying it thoroughly.
Thanks in advance
Chris Moseley
Balu Nadig
>Sanjiva Prasad wrote:
>This old master, based at UT Austin, is definitely older than 56!
>Probably a good 20-30 years older than that.
>Devakumar Sreevijayan wrote:
> The old master was born in 1907, I think. He is
> about 85 now and quite cogent, though frail.
> .
> .
> .
Dev, thanks for sharing the details of your visit with the 'old master'...
"Raja Rao was born in a very old Brahmin family of Mysore in 1909" according to
"The Serpent and the Rope" published by Orient Paperbacks and also carries a
quote from Sri Atmanananda 'Waves are nothing but water. So is the sea'.
Do share the details of your next visit ...
Balu
Taj Khattra
report "The Empire Writes Back" in this week's issue of TIME ragazine.
--
Taj Khattra The chief enemy of creativity is "good" taste
kha...@cs.sfu.ca - Picasso
Balu Nadig
reposted by Preeti and related threads, I worried as I wondered...
R.K. Narayan did it first,
Gandhi & Nehru made the list,
Dr.Radhakrishnan, did he hit
This net list or just miss it ?
Dr.S. Radhakrishnan's books on Indian Philosophy is a work of enormous
erudition and complete command of English - reading them is an enriching
experience.
Balu