atul@ut-ngp.UTEXAS (Atul Arya) (07/25/85)
Please add the follwing to the previous posting on non-fiction:
Ved Mehta : Staff writer for New Yorker. The account of his arrival and
life at The Arkansas school for Blind in Little Rock in 1948
(New Yorker - Feb.85 issues) was just fascinating. Look for :
A Family Affair : India Under three Prime Ministers,
The Ledge Between the Streams, Vedi, Gandhi and his Apostles.
My fiction selection will definitely include the follwing and
many more :
Dhanpat Rai Srivastava : Wrote under the pseudoname Premchand. Perhaps
one of the greatest writers in Hindi language. His stories
are truly Indian. Look for his masterpiece "Godan" and also
"Gupt Dhan (Gupta Dhana?)".
V.S.Naipaul : Yes, we all know he is not Indian. His prose is very rich,
very imaginative, full of small anecdotes and extremely
well written. You can ignore his non-fiction (nf) if you
do not like his (very strong) opinions. Look for :
A bend in the River, A House for Mr. Biswas, The Mystic
Masseur, Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey (nf),
(His early fiction (60s) is great).
R.K.Narayan : He has already been mentioned by many others. He has a
new collection of short stories called "Under the
Banyan Tree & other stories". A great storyteller in the
true Indian traditions!
Anita Desai : Virtually unknown in U.S.A. but quite popular in England. Has
been in the short list for the Booker Prize (I do not think
she has won yet). Look for: Clear Light of the Day, Fire on
the Mountain . (Has a new book publ. around Jan.)
Ruth P. Jhabwala : Fans of Merchant-Ivory films definitely know her. She
also wrote the screen-play for The Bostonians. Look for:
Heat and Dust, The Householder, In Search of Love and Beauty.
If all this seems too much, beware there are a lot of other
great books. So brew some strong coffee, find your favorite chair and
ENJOY these books. Any additions to the above list?
Atul Arya
Dept. of Petroleum Engg.
Univ. of Texas at Austin