India: Granta 57 - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140141472 ISBN 13: 9780140141474

Publisher: Granta Books, 1997

Synopsis

The magazine Granta is renowned for its expansive coverage of important issues, the diversity of its writers, and the breadth of talent it displays. This latest collection features a selection of fiction, reportage, memoir, and more, centering around the central theme of "India, " in honor of the continent's 50 years of independence. Includes work from Salman Rushdie, Patrick French, Mark Tully, and others.

About this title

Review:

Ian Jack introduces India's past 50 years, from nationhood through mid-life emergency measures crisis to its overwhelming potential. Twenty-two acclaimed writers wax pensive and lyrical: there's new fiction by Anita Desai, Amit Chaudhuri, Arundhati Roy, and R. K. Narayan; memoirs by Mark Tully, Nirad Chaudhuri, and Ved Mehta; pictures by Dayanita Singh; poems from Vikram Seth and Michael Ondaatje; an autobiographical account of the life of a pariah by Viramma; and a snippet of V. S. Naipaul's diary. All examine India's past, reflect on her present, and ponder her future now that her population--nearly a billion people--is on the brink of surpassing China's.

Review:

It contains the familiar mixture of short essays and reportage, extracts from longer works in progress, photographs and literary curiosities. This formula makes no attempt at coherence. It stands or falls by the potential its subject offers for reflections from multiple perspectives ... and by the quality of the individual contributions.... Granta maintains a consistently high standard, but this collection is superb. -- The Economist

About this edition

• Publisher: Granta Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0140141472
• ISBN 13: 9780140141474
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Granta, Jack Ian