I know that there are voracious readers in our group. So thought of starting a thread on Indian authors in English. I use to read a lot of Englisg books / novels when I was in college. Later I felt that there are lot more in Tamizh to be read so I quit reading English. Of late I have read very few books. Latest being Chetan Bhagat / Jhumpa Lahiri as their language readability is easy - For me. Others may differ in this point. Do let me know others as well and also share your experiences.
my favourite is khuswant. for his DELHI and TRAIN TO PAKISTAN every one of his autobigraphies( he writes one and then continues to live on. he has even named one ON THE DOORSTEPS OF DEATH
saucy writing, ful of humour. he writes what he feels, not shackled by norms of writing.
his books of fiction written later were trashily sexy and people tend to judge him by that.
r.k narayan is wonderfully simple in his writing. never ever writes about complicated things.
> I know that there are voracious readers in our group. So thought of starting > a thread on Indian authors in English. I use to read a lot of Englisg books > / novels when I was in college. Later I felt that there are lot more in > Tamizh to be read so I quit reading English. Of late I have read very few > books. Latest being Chetan Bhagat / Jhumpa Lahiri as their language > readability is easy - For me. Others may differ in this point. Do let me > know others as well and also share your experiences. > > ~ Udanx > -- > "Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more > difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment." > -- Benjamin Franklin >
The first book written by an Indian in English was by Sake Dean Mahomet, titled Travels of Dean Mahomet; Mahomet's travel narrative was published in 1793 in England. In its early stages it was influenced by the Western art form of the novel.
> > my favourite is khuswant. > > for his DELHI and TRAIN TO PAKISTAN > > every one of his autobigraphies( he writes one and then continues > to > > live on. he has even named one ON THE DOORSTEPS OF DEATH > > > > saucy writing, ful of humour. he writes what he feels, not > shackled > > by norms of writing. > > > > his books of fiction written later were trashily sexy and people > > tend to judge him by that. > > > > > > r.k narayan is wonderfully simple in his writing. never ever > writes > > about complicated things. > > > > > > > > > > > I know that there are voracious readers in our group. So thought > > of starting > > > a thread on Indian authors in English. I use to read a lot of > > Englisg books > > > / novels when I was in college. Later I felt that there are lot > > more in > > > Tamizh to be read so I quit reading English. Of late I have read > > very few > > > books. Latest being Chetan Bhagat / Jhumpa Lahiri as their > language > > > readability is easy - For me. Others may differ in this point. > Do > > let me > > > know others as well and also share your experiences. > > > > > > ~ Udanx > > > -- > > > "Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, > but > > far more > > > difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting > > moment." > > > -- Benjamin Franklin > > > > > >
I like Khuswant singh too although i find his humor very sexist at times. I am a die hard RK Narayan fan. I read lots of indian authors, nris especailly. Jhumpa Lahiri is fantastic read - i thoroughly enjoyed Interpreter of Maladies. I also think Indira Sundaresan and Arvind Adiga are ok.
TRAIN to PAKISTAN is a great book, and our little library has a very beat-up paperback copy that we won't discard.
RKN, of course. He 'turned me on' to India. I'd like to add Ruskin Bond, Santha Rama Rao, Bharati Mukherjee, Anita & Kiran Desai, Thrity Umrigar, Nirad C. Chaudhuri.
I'd like to put in a plug for MOTHERLAND, by V. Vijayaraghavan: sensitive to the difficulties in living in two worlds. Very well written, I thought. Kathie
sorry if I seem like an ad agent for Khuswants delhi but forgot to mention one interesting point.
kamal's HE RAM movie lifted one chapter from this book for its story line
venketesh
> > > > TRAIN to PAKISTAN is a great book, and our little library > > has a very beat-up paperback copy that we won't discard. > > > Kathie > > > > Hi Kathie, > get hold of his "delhi" > it is stunning that one human mind can recreate so much history > > its an annual ritual for me to read bits and pieces of "Delhi" > > > > venketesh > > > >
> RE: i worship RKNARAYAN. MALGUDI his microcosm never leaves my heart. > without RKN i would never have been a complete person in my own life. > i have faced similiar experiances in my life as do his characters > like nagaraj,nataraj,raman,sampath,swami,talkative man....etc.
Hi Gandhi ram
thats nice. my personal favourites are "the guide" and "a tiger for malgudi"
i got an excellent deal in chennai book fair. almost his entire set of books for 1500.
do you know kalki and narayan worked for ss vasan almost during the same period.
please check our archives for an excellent discussion on the rasipuram family with malathi giving us a lot of insider info.
Hi Venkat, yes my father has seen some of those experiments. My father is a scientist, and he still thinks those men were nuts, including RKN. But am not so dismissive and we don't really know, I think. Those incidents were also part of why RKN and his brother Laxman did not get along too, Laxman was the modern mumbai guy who did not like it either.
RKN was very much in love with his young wife who died of cholera then. He never remarried. My father often used to say if he had redirected his pain or sorrow to some social work insteado of seances we might have had another Nobel prize winner - since Nobel committee found him lacking in social contact which is one of their criteria.
> do you know kalki and narayan worked for ss vasan almost during the > same period. > > please check our archives for an excellent discussion on the > rasipuram family with malathi giving us a lot of insider info. > > > venketesh re: he was in chennai from 1930s. he was with the hindu news paper and gemini pictures. he was a widower by then. he was having a depressive disorder and had psychotic symptoms. he took almost 3-4 years to recover. he used to walk in marina beach from the napier bridge to lighthouse back and forth 2-3 times in evening that time.
his writings always had a tamil influence. his association with tamil writers -though not at personal level-was significant in the literary output. his mastery of language and the remarcable simplicity were the one which characterised him.
bachelour of arts and english teacher were more closer to his real life. he should be better known as english-southindian writer.
his family hailed from kumbakonam and migrated to mysore coimbatore and chennai. his tenure in parliament was rather symbolic gesture by the indian government to honour him.
i liked the most his works like financial expert, painter of signs and world of nagaraj.
i do not think he was away from reality in the case related to his delusions and claivoyance about his dead wive. such behaviours are common amongst writers. writers often have exceptional imageries that would some times come delusional pseudo-communities and impostering...etc. he belongs to a society which has such culture bound beleives.
Hi Gandhi, he was distantly related to me, that is why I know a little background info. He was an exceptional person, in additon to being an exceptional writer, there is no denying that.And as you say artists often venture into behaviours others do not contemplate. But not all writers are into all these type of stuff. His main failure was that he was a loner for the most part and did not involve and evolve society/culture around his work, which is what differentiated Tagore, whose work inspired many freedom fighters.
I too thought for a very long time that he was denied the Nobel for 'unknown' reasons, until recently another family member told me that he was told, by a member of the Nobel committee itself informally that it was denied due to lack of social involvement which is one of the factors necessary.
then you must be related to T.S. Tirumurti, a senior Foreign Service Office who is the author of CLIVE AVENUE another english novel on tamil scenarios. he was my senior in school
Dear Malathi, This is probably heresy, but is it also possible that RKN was never 'Nobelled' because his English was awkward at times? I don't have a book of his handy to cite examples.
By the way, he is -- or at least was -- well known to voracious readers here in the US. The public library where I work still has at least 4 of his novels and 2 of the short story collections. Don't get me wrong, he's one of my 5 or 6 favorite writers. Kathie
Hi Venkat, the Rasipuram family is huge, yes am sure we are related very distantly then - btw we were related by marriage to one of my cousins to his brother Laxman so it was not direct. We did have the good fortune though to meet with the great RKN on several occasions due to this relationship.
Hi Gandhi, the context of 'asocial' as pertaining to the nobel prize is the inability for an external entity to judge the impact of the author's work on society. The readers of RKN's books were restricted to upper middle class/rich elite well read people although he wrote about the common man. If it were today he would have online fans or other means where one can judge the readers views and how he goes down with audience. In those days there were none. BTW as Kathie pointed out some english critics did consider his english awkward, although that is debatable. More indian critics like Shashi Tharoor thought he was story book like, no serious comment on culture/society and anything for adults. (These are not my opinions, BTW).
Thank you Venkat, I must check out this author. As for Naipaul, I used to like him. Once upon a time. Then I read his book on India, a wounded civilisation. I was just disgusted. This man was not born in India. If you are not born in a country your perspective is completely different from others. He liberally makes fun of RKN and UR Anantamurti, both highly respected authors. Makes dumb remarks like a bullock cart costing more than a second hand car in Europe. In generally a collection of highly sarcastic, opinionated remarks. Turned me off completely.
Nice to see another RKN fan here. After Tom Sawyer's pinning, I thought Chandran's pining for his lady love in 'The Bachelor of Arts' as the best.
In fact I would rate that book one of the best ever book I read. It takes you into the period and along with the characters. I had a similar feeling when I read 'Gone With The Wind' book (this one I read over a course of 1 month, after finishing the book, I felt so sad to have come out of the story). BoA was such a book.