VIKRAM SETH: THE SUITABLE BOY OF ANGLO-INDIAN WRITING

Vikram Seth was born in India in 1952. He studied at Oxford, Standford and Nanjing Universities, and spent two years in China doing research on economic demography. He is trained as an economist and has lived for several years in the UK, California, China and India. His works include The Golden Gate: A Novel in Verse, A Suitable Boy, From Heaven Lake: Travels through Sinkiang and Tibet and four volumes of poetry titled Mappings, The Humble Administrator's Garden, All You Who Sleep Tonight and Beastly Tales From Here And There. He has translated some Chinese poems into English in a book called Three Chinese Poets. His most recent book is the novel An Equal Music which hit the book market along with Rushdie' s Ground Beneath Her Feet.
        Vikram Seth was paid $430,000 by the British publishers Orion for his second novel A Suitable Boy. The 1,349 page novel is considered to be the longest novel in a single volume.

 

AWARDS:

A Suitable Boy- The Sahitya Academi Award  Winner 
From Heaven Lake- The Thomas Cook Travel Book 1989 Award Winner

ANECDOTES:

When asked how he wished to die, Vikram Seth said that he wished to die on the 13th line of a sonnet.

PRAISES FROM OTHER WRITERS:

"Vikram Seth shows absolute mastery of the English Language and has created a unique literary alchemy."
                                   - R.K. Narayan

A new star in the literary firmament...........................Seth has the stuff Nobel Laureates are made of.
                                
- Kushwant Singh

Vikram Seth is a genius.
                              
   -Shobha De

 

 




To know more about what R K Narayan had to say about Vikram Seth and his novel in verse "The Golden Gate"  Click here


To read the interview of Vikram Seth given to India Today saying that Rushdie' s not a rival.
Click Here
  
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