The Romantics (novel)

The Romantics (novel)

Infobox Book
name = The Romantics


image_caption =
author = Pankaj Mishra
cover_artist = Raghubir Singh
country = India, UK
language = English
genre = Literary fiction
publisher = Picador
pub_date = 1999
pages = 277
isbn = 0-330-39277-8

"The Romantics" (1999) is the debut novel of Pankaj Mishra, the author of "Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in Small Town India" (1995), "An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World" (2004) and "Temptations of the West: How to be Modern in India, Pakistan and Beyond" (2006). "The Romantics" is an ironic tale of people longing for fulfillment in cultures other than their own. It was published in eleven European languages and won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum award for first fiction. [* [http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00litlinks/pankajmishra/ Website devoted to author] ]

Plot introduction

Samar, the young narrator of "The Romantics", arrives at a boarding house in the holy city of Benaras, an ancient city trying to cope with modern India. There he hopes to lose himself in books and solitude, but, far from offering him an undistracted existence, the city forces all his silent desires into the light.

Quotes on the blurb

The following quotes are given on the blurb of the novel: [Pankaj Mishra (1999)"The Romantics", Picador ISBN 0-330-39277-8]

'Pankaj Mishra writes the most perfect prose of any Indian novelist of his generation' - William Dalrymple

'Read it and find yourself at the source of something great' - Candia McWilliam

Literary significance and reception

'Though slightly over-long and crowded with minor players, "The Romantics" is an intriguing combination of casual grace and emotional intensity, peppered with discreet social comment on caste, class, sectarian strife, the state of the nation. (...) Hearteningly different from the tricksiness and posturing of much recent Indian writing, this is a charming début, which makes a virtue of its studied simplicity' - Aamer Hussein, The Independent [ [http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/story.jsp?story=46039 Review of "The Romantics"] "The Independent"]

'If much of cosmopolitan Indian writing has valorized the immigrant and the foreign land, then "The Romantics" is a celebration of the home and its forgotten world' - Amitava Kumar, The Nation [ [http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20000424&c=2&s=kumar Review of "The Romantics"] "The Nation"]

'...this extraordinary debut novel, "The Romantics", a supernova in the wan firmament of recent fiction' - Marie Arana, The Washington Post [Marie Arana [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/books/reviews/romantics0307.htm Review of "The Romantics"] "The Washington Post" 2000-03-05]

References

External links

* [http://www.outlookindia.com/author.asp?name=Pankaj+Mishra Magazine contains articles written by Pankaj Mishra]
* [http://www.nybooks.com/authors/196 Articles on New York Review of Books]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/books/review/06GOODHEA.html Philosopher King by Adam Goodheart—book review in New York Times]
* [http://www.loggernaut.org/interviews/pankajmishra "Pankaj Mishra, Intellectual and Spiritual Vagrant"] . An interview by Wendy Cheng at "Loggernaut".


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