The Romantics (novel): Difference between revisions

{{OrphanUse dmy dates|date=FebruaryMarch 20092014}}

| image = The Romantics (novel).jpg

| country = [[India]], [[UK]]

| language = [[English language|English]]

| genre = [[Literary fiction]]

| pub_date = [[1999]]

'''''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 [[Europe]]anEuropean languages and won the Los Angeles Times [[Art Seidenbaum awardAward for firstFirst fictionFiction]].<ref name=":12">*{{Cite [httpweb |title=Los Angeles Times Book Prizes |url=https://www.columbiawriterswrite.educom/itcrr/mealacawards/pritchett/00litlinks/pankajmishralatimes/ Website|access-date=2022-03-16 devoted|website=Writers to author]Write}}</ref>

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. Although this novels depicts the interaction of two culture such as east and west. the protagonist is highly attracted towards the glamour of western that comes to novel as being in contact with Catherine.

'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]] <ref>[http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/story.jsp?story=46039 Review of ''The Romantics''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050405092319/http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/story.jsp?story=46039 |date=5 April 2005 }} ''The Independent''</ref>

'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]]<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20000424&c=2&s=kumar Review of ''The Romantics''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050426220824/http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20000424&c=2&s=kumar |date=26 April 2005 }} ''The Nation''</ref>

'...this extraordinary [[debut novel]], ''The Romantics'', a supernova in the wan firmament of recent fiction' -– [[Marie Arana]], [[The Washington Post]] <ref>Arana, Marie Arana(2000-03-05). [httphttps://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/books/reviews/romantics0307.htm Review of ''The Romantics'']. ''[[The Washington Post]]''. 2000 Retrieved 2018-0311-0518.</ref>

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080212231907/http://www.outlookindia.com/author.asp?name=Pankaj+Mishra Magazine contains articles written by Pankaj Mishra]

* [httphttps://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/books/review/06GOODHEA.html Philosopher King by Adam Goodheart—book review in New York Times]

[[Category:IndianNovels novelsset in Varanasi]]

[[Category:1999 Indian novels]]

[[Category:Debut1999 debut novels]]